As a developer?s plans for almost 80 new homes in the Lochearn area near fruition, neighborhood associations surrounding the site are battling over whether to support or oppose the development.
Members of at least two neighborhood associations, Lochearn and Haywood Heights, said they expect to voice their concerns at a county hearing Thursday on the proposed 76 homes in the Seton Hills community. They said the association that will be least affected by the development ? the Forest Garden Improvement Association ? is the only one that has brokered an agreement with the developers.
“The only access point is coming into our neighborhood on Kelox Road, which is us,” said Haywood Heights resident Eugene Brown. “You can imagine the traffic that it?s going to generate.”
Residents also have taken issue with potential impacts on local schools they say are already overcrowded and underachieving, as well as the lack of open space proposed by developers.
The development would occupy about 47 acres of mostly wooded space near the Baltimore County-city line, on the north side of Liberty Road, east of Kelox, Telmar, Lockwood, Landbeck and Tulsa roads, June Drive and Updale Court.
The developers have agreed to pay a fee in lieu of the required 1.75 acres of open space ordinarily required, which would be used for improvements to existing parks in the area, according to county documents.
Forest Garden Improvement Association President Dorothy Clayborne confirmed her organization is in favor of the new homes.
Residents showed up at a meeting last month to continue their campaign against the development, said county project manager Colleen Kelly, but were told the session was not open to public comment.
