What You're Saying About PlanMaryland and Smart Growth in Eldersburg

A recent blog post about PlanMaryland was met with a variety of responses from readers.

Here's a sampling of what people said in the comments section on Patch. You're welcome to add your own thoughts below.

Brad Smith:

"We don't want to be like the other counties of Maryland, as a matter of fact we want to be the exact opposite of the PlanMaryland initiatives, unclustered housing on multiacre lots. A prime example of the failure that a PlanMaryland type of initiative would cause, would be Eldersburg. Oklahoma Estates, Smurf Village, the section 8 housing by Carroll Town Center and the large neighborhood behind Carrolltown Center should have never been built the way that they were. Replace those with the Anti PlanMaryland initiative and Eldersburg wouldn't be a traffic jam. The state can keep its money, I'd rather pay higher taxes to a red county, then a blue state."

David Croghan: 

"I would suggest that Eldersburg is a great example of private property owners being allowed to develop their private property to their heart's content. So is the 'Golden Mile' in Frederick, and the slums of Hillcrest that surround it. So was Love Canal. Nobody forced the private property owners to develop this land."

JoeEldersburg:

"Eldersburg's master plan was never followed and is definitetly not representative of SmartGrowth. Rothschild and our Commissioners are lying when they say the UN is influencing planning in the US, it's the other way around! They are also lying when they say SmartGrowth caused urban decay or made PG County what it is today. Their plans for more sprawl are the danger here, not PlanMaryland. Do not trust them. They are simply using fear to carry out a development agenda aligned with the realty interests who got them elected! Rothschild is a realtor. So was Larry Haines. Wake up and follow the money before it's too late!"

"As an Eldersburg resident, I shop in the Eldersburg WalMart and it has absolutely nothing to do with anything more than the convenience of it being less than 1/2 mi away from my house. I moved here in 1999, a year or two after it was built and would probably not have supported its construction, but would likely have supported the theatre/shopping Promenade that I heard some residents defeated.

"I'm not necessarily a huge fan of what WalMart does to local business, but I certainly don't begrudge their existence. I do wish they had been forced to extend the utilities at their light back far enough to create a third lane on Liberty. This continues to be a mess all these years later. I also wish their huge hulking parking lot had more trees and that their big sign was less intrusive. I even wish I could walk or ride my bike to it on a decent sidewalk or bike path, but alas, all this would be SmartGrowth and as we've discussed, Eldersburg is an example of sprawl, not SmartGrowth. Did you know that another of your favorite Commissioners, Robin Frazier, actually killed Eldersburg's Boulevard District in 2001? She told the SHA, who was then offering to fund 100% of the construction supported by the joint $800,000 study, no thanks! One of her cronies on the PZC told her that the $30 million or so was a waste of taxpayer money. She always took advice from the wrong people! She should have prayed harder!"

Brad Smith:

"I am much less against business smart growth, then residential smart growth. I do not like all of the shopping that has sprouted up, but I would rather the county have put it all in a single area, then spread out from the bridge to (now) Whiterock Road. That business park is just another poor decision and another traffic light."

JoeEldersburg:

"You are absolutely correct that Liberty Exchange's empty 400,000 sq.ft center does not represent SmartGrowth and it was indeed a dumb idea to build this project there, just because it was zoned for such development 30 years ago. To your point, the area changed and so too should the development plan adapted. SmartGrowth would have pushed St.John's to redevelop a portion of Liberty's current business district or perhaps build up instead of out (how's that for novel?) on a parcel already within the area most people view as Eldersburg's retail/commercial area."

"Why couldn't they redevelop the then empty Londontown property and find the moulding company a new home or how about doing something cool in Warfield, which has been the county's #1 economic priority for years. We've always had a bias for residential housing over business and that's unfortunately made it very hard to attract any kind of industrial base and our present BOC certainly SAYS economic development is a priority."

"So to prove it they slash the ED budget by $500,000, cut the salary of the Director, so he bolts for a job in Howard County (and they still haven't hired a replacement) and yes, they even cut our bonding authority by millions and freeze construction for half a dozen budgeted projects in S. Carroll, which would have aided business attraction. And this was done why, all to give us a 2 cent property tax cut? Please, this is absurd!"