Henry Schmidt, 76, doesn?t mind new homes and shopping centers. What he does mind is being unable to turn into his family farm?s driveway off Mountain Road in the Pasadena area without risking getting hit.
“I?m not opposed to development, but they don?t do the improvements they need to,” said Schmidt, who says Mountain Road has long needed expansion due to surrounding growth.
The rapid growth in northern and western Anne Arundel County in recent years and the promise of thousands of more jobs in the next decade has wedged county leaders and developers between the rock of geography and the hard place of expensive infrastructure needs.
For developers, Anne Arundel County?s Gold Coast region is prime territory for building, especially given the expected influx of new jobs thanks to the most recent military base restructuring. In contrast, about 11,000 acres of the southern end of the county have been preserved for agriculture and recreation.
“The good news is that they have a need,” said Mike Caruthers, president of Somerset Construction Co. “It does you no good at all to put up a building if you don?t have anyone to use it. We have users for what we build.”
Somerset Construction is behind the creation of Arundel Preserve, a 280-acre mixed-use development off state Route 100 that is slated to include 400 homes as well as office and retail space.
The Gold Coast is an area in western Anne Arundel County bounded by Baltimore/Washington International Thurgood Marshall Airport, Fort Meade and the headquarters of the National Security Agency.
Caruthers said the county will eventually be forced to find a way to fund improvements for roads and schools to keep developers happy. A countywide cap on property taxes means government leaders will have to look elsewhere for funding sources.
“If you have a shopping center and people can?t get into it, they?re not coming back,” Caruthers said. “And if you build subdivisions and the schools aren?t good, they?re not going to buy homes.”
Much of the growth in Anne Arundel has been in office and commercial space and residential subdivisions. Mixed-use developments are sprouting up in the more populous areas, including Annapolis Town Center on Riva Road and around Fort Meade. Land around the airport is also being snatched up for new hotels, such as the new BWI Hilton.
David Pollin, whose Buccini Pollin Group is developing the Hilton, said the demand for full-service hotels with large meeting space has risen in recent years along with the growth in the county?s biggest employers.
“We?re excited about accommodating the demand that?s already there,” he said, “but the challenges are the availability of land and construction costs.”
