(12/16) A proposed 95-townhouse development on the south side of Woodsboro was met with mixed reviews from the Town Council at its December meeting.
The Preliminary Concept Plan for the development, to be built on a 15-acre lot on the east side of Main Street between the Town’s memorial cemetery and the park & ride lot, was presented to the Town Council by the developer’s architect, Fox and Associates, to get an "idea of the Council’s initial feedback on the project."
The "feedback" came quick and fast.
All Council members were stunned at the number of townhouses proposed. Burgess Heath Barnes said that the new number was a significant increase over the 58 townhouses proposed when the idea of the developing the lot was first proposed to the Council in October 2022.
The 2022 proposal only wanted to use 5.5 acres for homes, 2.5 acres for commercial use, 5 acres were set aside for open space, and approximately 2.5 acres were to be donated to the Mt. Hope cemetery. The new proposal looks to use 7 acres for homes, 5.5 acres for open space, and 1.9 acres to be donated to the cemetery.
The lot is currently owned by Steve Trout. Trout, the Council was told, has entered into a contract with DRB Development of Rockville Maryland for them to purchase the lot if the development plans are approved.
Commissioner Cutshall, when discovering that the entire development was to consist of townhouses, said he was a firm "no" on the development. Cutshall said that for him to even consider the development, all the homes on Main Street in the development needed to be single-family homes.
"Let’s be honest," Cutshall said, "we have a historic town, and I don’t want it ruined by a row of townhouses on Main Street. All the houses on Main Street are single-family houses. Townhouses on Main Street will ruin the appearance of the Town. There needs to be single-family homes along Main Street. I’m a firm no on the development otherwise."
Commissioner Jessie Case joined Cutshall in his desire to maintain the historic look and feel of the Town. "People moved here because we have an ‘old town charm.’ A 95-townhouse development will ruin this Town. I’ve never been a big fan of jamming a lot of people into a small area, and that is exactly what this development will do."
Case pointed out that he had voiced his concerns in 2022, that he was not a fan of "packing as many homes onto a piece of land as you could. People move here to be away from that type of development." Case went on to say, "when I was elected to the Town Council, I promised to do my best to keep the Town as small as possible. This doesn’t fit into that vision."
Case also warned of increased traffic on Main Street. "Let’s face it, 95 town homes is going to put an additional 190 cars on the road in the morning and evening and, as they all will be having to enter and exit the development at the same entrance, we’re going to have traffic issues."
Barnes summarily dismissed Case’s traffic concerns, stating: "traffic was the least of concerns. Most of the time, Main Street has no cars on it at all and most residents will be just entering or leaving the development and heading to or from RT. 194 and as a result, few will ever come into town, and hence create traffic issues."
But Cutshall questioned the width of the streets in the development, and when told they would be 20-feet-wide, that that would be insufficient. "Lets face it, residents are going to be parking on the development streets, and that’s going to inhibit the ability of movement of fire trucks and snow plows in the development."
Cutshall reinforced his point by referencing the recent decision the Town was forced to make, restricting parking on 2nd Street to just the east side as a result of the parking issues at the eight new townhouses at Arnold’s place. "Parking in the development is going to be an issue," Cutshall said. Barnes, echoing Cutshall’s concerns, added that the Town doesn’t have a police force and without one, there is no way to enforce a "no parking on the street rule" in the development.
Cutshall also requested that the development streets have old fashioned curbs and gutters, not the rounded swell that are in vogue these days. In addition, Cutshall insisted that any final design have a walkway in front of the development and pay for a walkway in front of the cemetery to connect to the main part of the Town to allow people to walk into the town if they wish.
Barnes expressed frustration that under the current design, the development did not set aside any space for commercial development. "In the old proposal, there was space set aside for a restaurant and some retail shops, but the new one is all townhouses. I was really hoping the development would bring with it a second place to eat in town."
Barnes warned the developer that their proposed track for the sewer line to connect to the Town’s sewer plant would run through a part of the cemetery where people are buried. "I can’t see the cemetery committee allowing you to run a sewer line through an active part of the cemetery. That’s going to be a problem."
"The advantage of running the line through the cemetery," the Town Staff said, "was it would not require the installation of a sewer pump which the Town would have to maintain and are always breaking down."
Town Staff put the Council on notice that the 95 townhouses would max out the Town’s water permit with the State. "Usually it’s no big deal, all we need to do is ask the State for the right to pump more water, but you just need to be aware, that the 95 units will put us at 98% of our allowable water draw."
Barnes also expressed dismay that the new concept plan reduced the size of the land being donated to the cemetery. "The original (2022) plan had a much wider strip of land between the development and the cemetery." When told that in the new plan, the distance between the cemetery property line and the first townhouse would be 50 feet, Barnes shook his head. "The goal of the 2022 design was to give enough land for the cemetery to plant some trees between it and the development. They didn’t want to have people sitting on their back porch partying while people are holding a funeral just yards away."
The developer thanked the Town Staff and Council for their input, reiterating that their whole purpose of providing the briefing was just to get a sense of what the Council would approve in the long run, and promised to take their input and return at a later date with a revised design.
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