For county developers, it?s not getting any easier.
Caught between sometimes stringent building restrictions and neighborhoods that don?t want them, many developers are struggling to take advantage of the shrinking land in the county.
“It doesn?t make any difference what it is, people don?t want development near them,” said Stewart Greenebaum, founding partner of Greenebaum & Rose Associates, which is developing Maple Lawn.
Many residents have what Greenebaum called a “knee-jerk reaction against development of any kind.” Even as his company tried to build a park in Baltimore County, neighbors spoke out against it with concerns of increased traffic and nighttime park shenanigans.
Just as longtime residents decry new housing, they also complain their children can?t afford to buy in the county, thanks to skyrocketing real estate prices and limited housing stock, Greenebaum said.
“It doesn?t make them bad people, it just doesn?t make sense,” he said.
Proposed zoning changes aim to curb so-called infill development, which is squeezing new homes in existing neighborhoods. Some say this brings a host of problems, but developers? hands are tied.
“Really, that?s all that?s left in Howard County,” said Scott Armiger, vice president of Orchard Development Corp., which is building Patuxent Square in the Route 1 corridor.
Having the infrastructure, such as roads and sewer, is a plus for developers, but since those lots are surrounded by single-family homes, infill development tends to draw ire, he said.
“It?s difficult when people who are living in the county have their houses and property, but they want to shut the door for everyone else,” Armiger said.
Early meetings with the communities before plans are submitted to the county are helpful, developers said, giving them a chance to inform neighbors and gather insight into the neighborhood.
Although some developers have encountered frustrated residents who oppose a development, for Rob Moxley, principal of Security Development Corporation, the so-called pre-submission meetings are a benefit.
“We learn things about the community and the adjacent property owners we didn?t know,” he said.
