Harford county executive's letter to citizens on Cedarday drive extension

The following is a letter, dated July 21, 2011, from Harford County Executive David Craig to residents of the Cedarday communities regarding the proposed extension of Cedarday Drive:

Dear Citizens of Harford County, Residents of Cedarday & Cedarday Estates:

The County is proposing to complete the long awaited connection of Cedarday Drive this fall. For the past month my office, along with the County Council and notably the Department of Public Works have received numerous inquiries concerning this project. All are extremely important and will be responded to in the next several weeks. Representatives from my office and the Department of Public Works have been working, and will continue to work with concerned residents on addressing some of the very valid concerns that were brought forward by members of the community. I have read every letter, seen every e-mail and have been kept informed of this issue and its impact on Harford County as a whole and the Cedarday Community. At this time, I would like to convey to you several important concerns raised by the community and my thoughts on those issues.

Can the project be suspended or delayed?

To suspend or delay the project would impact the timing of the two scheduled road improvement projects on Wheel Road.

Wheel Road needs to be rebuilt as soon as possible due to its condition, while Cedarday Extension is necessary to avoid significant disruption to traffic in this area. In addition, the Cedarday Extension has been, and continues to be part of an overall plan to interconnect the county's road network. This was evidenced in the Preliminary Plan Approval that was given to the developer as a condition for development. In essence, the road and connection exist because the community was built, and the impact of that community on the existing road network.

How can the traffic speed be controlled?

A sub-committee will be organized to work with selected residents of Cedarday to develop traffic calming measures. It is the intent of the County to have these installed prior to the completion of Cedarday Drive Extension.

What will the projected volume of traffic be on the road?

Cedarday Extension will be constructed as a 24 foot wide road for 2-way traffic with a bituminous concrete (asphalt) surface.

The County will be conducting traffic counts at key locations in the area, obtain information from the sports complex, determine the future development in the corridor, and analyze the current traffic patterns. The intent of the study is to determine what modifications could be made to improve ingress and egress to the Cedarday Community while not making it an attractive alternative from the logical commuter roads.

As has been stated before, the county will be looking to install traffic calming devices before the road is open to traffic.

What can be done to minimize the impact of traffic from the Sports Complex on the residential community?

The County along with several community representatives from Cedarday and Cedarday Estates met in early July with the park to discuss their operation and the impact of the Cedarday Community when the Cedarday Road is completed. During that meeting the following recommendations were made:

Control direction of traffic to and from the park;

Restrict bus and truck traffic from using Cedarday and Cedar Lane;

Request considerations for timing of events;

Have park request Sheriff's Office to direct traffic for park events, or have Park staff assigned to direct traffic away from Cedarday Drive during major park events.

A letter from Cedar Lane Park resulting from that meeting is included as an attachment to this letter.

Can the County investigate improving Cedar Lane versus construction of Cedarday Extension?

The County and developer concluded very early in the planning process that improving Cedar Lane was not a viable option due to a number of concerns including but not limited to grades, ability for county or developer to secure right of way, access, etc. As a result, the developer constructed a $1.2 million dollar bridge on Cedarday Drive in 2006 intended for the Cedarday Drive extension. In 2010 the County Transportation Plan Cedarday Drive was functionally classified as a collector road. In addition the Cedarday Drive extension was a requirement of the Cedarday Preliminary Plan approval granted to the developer in 1986. Therefore, the current proposed alignment has been a long time plan in the making.

Why are we doing this project and not some other project?

First and foremost, the extension of Cedarday Drive is a component of a larger plan to enhance connectivity of the county's road network. When putting together the County's Capital Budget with limited resources, our criteria includes what projects have developer funded improvements, provide the most benefits and are ready to be advertised. The two projects that met the criteria were Cedarday Drive Extension and North Avenue Bridge. The design for Cedarday Drive Extension was started late 2008 with the possibility of obtaining federal stimulus money. Consideration to move forward with the design was:

Shown in the preliminary approval plan from 1986;

Right of Way deeded to the County by the developer in 2004;

$1.2 million dollar Bridge built by developer in 2006;

Cedar Lane Park opened in 2008;

Problem with ingress/egress with the closing of Wheel Road for construction of the roundabout in 2010;

Concerns of ingress/egress with closing of Wheel Road for future construction.

In summary, the extension of Cedarday Drive has been years in the planning, and was a requirement to handle the increased traffic in the area caused by the development of Cedarday Estates. I have read the numerous letters, e-mails that have been sent to me by concerned residents from the larger Cedarday Community. I have weighed those concerns with the overall considerations that were made when your community was being planned. In addition, I agree with the community's concerns regarding the need for pro-active traffic calming measures and the potential impact of Cedar Lane Park. To address these specifically, I have instructed the Department of Public Works to work with the community to implement a traffic calming plan prior to the opening of the Cedarday Drive extension. I have also reached out to the operators of Cedar Lane Park to discuss the need to implement a traffic control plan that would limit the use of Cedarday Drive by park visitors. Given the explanations listed above and the considerations by the community, I firmly believe that this project has been and is currently important to the Cedarday Community and the County's overall road network as a whole.

If you have any additional questions, regarding this project, I am including contact information for my office, and the project managers in the Department of Public Works.

Cordially,

David R. Craig

Harford County Executive

The following is a copy of a letter from John McHugh, executive director of the Cedar Lane Sports Foundation, to Harford County Parks & Recreation Director Arden McClune and Public Works Director Bob Cooper, regarding the proposed extension of Cedarday Drive. It was sent to residents of Cedarday communities along with the county executive's letter:

Dear Arden and Bob,

After recently attending the meeting with the Cedar Day Community residents I want to inform you of our intents to resolve future concerns of the extension Cedar Day Drive. As I indicated in the meeting we will assist in any manner possible to help reduce the impact of the new road on the Cedar Day Community as it relates to our activities.

A few items that we discussed at the meeting.

All event organizers will be notified to use Rt. 136 as their entrance and exit for tournaments and events.

All buses bringing teams to the tournament will be directed to use Rt. 136.

A letter will be sent to each Recreation Council requesting that notification be sent out that the preferred entrance for their members using CLRP be Rt. 136.

We will coordinate with DPW to post signage directing people to Rt. 136 when they leave CLRP and that either "No Right Turn" or "Local Traffic Only" to the right will be posted.

We will coordinate with DPW and the Sheriff's office to manage traffic entering and exiting the park entrance and Rt. 136 as needed.

Hopefully these initial steps will help reduce the impact on the Cedar Day Community. We are still in a learning curve regarding the management of parking/traffic flow and are always looking to improve. We will continue to make adjustments as needed and will work the county to put the best plan in place for all concerned.

Best regards,

John McHugh

Executive Director

Cedar Lane Sports Foundation