12-house development project stirs up Mardela
Delmarva Now
MARDELA SPRINGS -- In the 15 years Patricia Marshall has lived on Mill Branch Road, she's become accustomed to the open fields and farmland along her street.
It's an agricultural ambiance that Marshall says would be threatened by a proposed housing development. One house down from Marshall, The Knolls at Barren Creek would build 12 houses on what is now an overgrown field on Mill Branch Road, near Athol Road.
"I know of no one (in Mardela Springs) who supports it," Marshall said.
Many of Marshall's neighbors showed up to contest the project at last week's Wicomico County Council meeting. Because the project is near a creek leading into the Chesapeake Bay, it comes with special density restrictions. The developer, Barren Creek Estates LLC, must receive a growth allocation from the council to build at a higher density, otherwise it would likely be forced to scrap the project.
"If there was a checklist to properties (suitable) for a growth allocation, this one would have a check in every column," said Brock E. Parker, vice president of Parker and Associates, a Salisbury firm responsible for the project's surveying and engineering work.
Parker said details of the project were sent to the state's Critical Areas Commission, which in a preliminary review did not find any violations in the project. Furthermore, he said the developers will plant trees along the creek to act as a buffer and will design its stormwater run-off controls far beyond the minimum requirements.
Parker said the houses would be installed with high-efficiency HVAC systems and water-saving plumbing fixtures.
"The development proposal calls for the retention of all trees. It's directly contiguous to the town of Mardela. It's where you would want a development to be," Parker said.
The council is expected to hold a work session on the housing development at an upcoming meeting. Even if the developers were to meet every one of the growth allocation criteria, the council is not required to give them the allocation, as the decision is deemed "discretionary."
Zoning records show The Knolls at Barren Creek would be built on 14 acres. Of those acres, slightly more than half fall within the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area -- which means they are within 1,000 feet of tidal waters.
Normally, only one house per 20 acres could be built on the land in question -- about 6.73 acres classified as a Resource Conservation Area. But with the growth allocation, developers could pursue their plans of building at about one house every acre.
County Planning Director Jack Lenox said Wicomico has about 639 acres of land to give out as growth allocations. While that might seem like a lot of land, it is a finite amount, Lenox said.
Since 1989, the county has allocated nearly 255 acres for the purpose of nine growth allocation projects and one map amendment, land records show.
Jerrold Marshall, a Mardela Springs town commissioner who lives near the proposed development, said there are plenty of reasons why the project is a bad idea. He said it would increase traffic on roads that are narrow and well-traveled by poultry trucks. Furthermore, 12 additional homes would put more students in area schools that are already overcrowded.
"Mardela, we're in the middle of our comprehensive plan now. We'd like to stay away from the Critical Area," Marshall said.
Randy Beers, who lives on Athol Road, told County Council members during a public hearing Oct. 6 that it doesn't make economic sense to build more houses in Mardela Springs.
"Who's gonna live in there? All you're going to have is more empty houses," Beers said.
Parker, who represents the developers, counters that much of the sentiment against the property doesn't take into account that the development has met growth allocation criteria.
"The developers have been trying to get this approved since 2004," Parker said.
The developers point of view isn't enough to sway Marshall, who said she wants her street to keep the bucolic feel it has had since she bought her house.
"A development right in the midst of a farming community does not fit," Marshall said.
