Next week,the water will start flowing again in Westminster, and developers want to make sure it?s distributed fairly.
“There should be an ad hoc developers? committee so we can provide a unified recommendation,” said Louis Siegel, a member of Diversified Investment Associates, Timonium-based developers, at a forum the city hosted Wednesday evening on how building projects will be prioritized in accordance with Westminster?s limited water supply of 60,000 gallons per day.
The average household uses 235 gallons per day.
“We want to avoid hoarding or something like the California gold rush,” Westminster Councilman Gregory Pecoraro said.
An interim water capacity management plan, which the council expects to approve Monday, may bump builders who are ready to use the water ahead of others who are taking longer on their projects, Councilman Robert Wack said.
Millions of dollars in commercial and residential projects ? some years in the making ? were held up since September, when Maryland Department of the Environment told Westminster to halt construction until the city and state could agree on a timetable for bringing additional water sources online to comply with new state regulations that towns have enough water to satisfy record-drought conditions.
About 60 building permits and six commercial and residential projects have been delayed, said Matt Davis, the city?s manager for planning and development.
Diversified Investment Associates has been working for five years to build a development of 220 houses on Nagana Farm, said Siegel?s partner, Richard Kress.
Residents often don?t give developers enough credit for being the first to take a risk and invest in houses and stores, Kress said.
Developers try to be patient, but the “general public” might not be so understanding when they?ve sunk thousands of dollars into their dream houses, for example, but are told they must wait, said Richard Hull, chairman of the board for CLSI, civil engineers from Westminster.
MDE and Westminster signed a consent order Tuesday agreeing to a timeline for water projects, including an emergency pipeline from Medford Quarry to Cranberry Reservoir and an intake station at Little Pipe Creek.
