Council could rein in projects
City urged to stop Athens development, take look at others
The Annapolis City Council held an emergency meeting Thursday to discuss issuing a stop work order against one housing developer and urging two more to address environmental concerns.
The developments in question — Griscom Square in Eastport, Parkside Preserve in Ward 7 and Athens (formerly Rocky Gorge) in Ward 4 — have all been in the planning stages for years but saw grading and clearing work begin in earnest within the past month. The frustration, for council members, is that permits for two of these projects date to 2006.
Many state and city policies around affordable housing, forest conservation, traffic and wastewater management have changed, and it’s not clear to council members, who are all Democrats, that developers are being held to 2022 standards.
Ward 7 Alderman Rob Savidge and Ward 4 Alderwoman Sheila Finlayson both pushed for the meeting and sponsored resolutions related to two of the developments.
“I am not upset, but I am passionate,” Finlayson said, in a speech urging city employees to halt construction on Athens’ 48 town home units and single-family homes. Athens will offer “tucked away luxury” on a parcel between Aris T. Allen Boulevard and Forest Drive. Bando Investment Group, a Bethesda developer that also goes by B.I.G. Limited, starts pricing for the homes at $650,000 and describes the future neighborhood as “a true boutique upscale community.”
But because the State Highway Administration denied a previous developer access via Aris T. Allen, the Athens’ access point will be through Yawl
Road in Oxford Landing, a much more modest community where homes sell for around $300,000. With parking currently allowed on both sides of Yawl Road, only one vehicle can pass through at a time; the new development will increase traffic and possibly result in a loss of parking for Oxford Landing, several council members agreed.
“The history of this project has been troublesome from the outset, particularly for the traffic through Oxford Landing,” Ward 5 Alderman Ross Arnett said, speaking in support of the stopwork order. “We need to do whatever we can do.”
Although the CEO of B.I.G. Limited is Black, Finlayson said he feels the Athens is a classic case of a predominantly white neighborhood infringing on a community where people of color are more likely to live. Both she and Arnett lamented that an affordable housing community once planned for the property never came to fruition; four different developers have proposed plans for the mostly wooded property over the past 16 years.
Savidge, who works as a restoration ecologist for Anne Arundel County, believes that the best reason to legally “press pause” on the Athens project lies with forest restoration policy. The 2021 tornado affected the property, and that should give city planners grounds to reassess previous permits.
“Before more trees are cleared, we need to get a stop work order,” Savidge said. Finlayson described the B.I.G. bulldozers as “out there working day and night.”
But City Manager David Jarrell, the city’s Office of Law and Mayor Gavin Buckley all oppose the proposed resolution calling for the order and are concerned that taking action against the developer would give B.I.G. grounds for a lawsuit. Although Jarrell rarely rebukes council members in public, he reminded the aldermen that they delegated permitting issues to the city’s planning and zoning department and the planning commission years ago.
“This is an approved, permitted project,” Jarrell said of the Athens. “You are putting staff in an untenable position.”
Yet even Buckley voted to move the measure forward. After being proposed Thursday at the emergency meeting, the stop-work resolution will come before the council for a final vote at a regularly scheduled meeting Monday night.
Also Monday night, the council will vote on a second resolution regarding the Parkside Preserve, a planned 58-home community adjacent to Quiet Waters Park. Savidge had considered pushing for a stop-work order against Lennar, the Miami-based developer building Parkside, but he said a meeting this week where council members, county officials, city staffers and Lennar all came to together to discuss the project went “fairly well.”
Savidge showed before-and-after photos indicating that construction is causing significant runoff and erosion on a hillside in Quiet Waters Park, wiping out a small headwaters stream. But as Jarrell explained, the developer has agreed to pay for a stream restoration project in the park once construction is finished.
Earlier this year, the city has issued several rounds of fines, and a temporary stop-work order, for environmental violations found on the construction site.
“This really does reflect climate change; we are seeing more frequent rain events,” Savidge said.
Ward 1 Alderwoman Elly Tierney, who has a background in engineering, described the Parkside Preserve resolution as a “statement of quality control measures.”
If passed on Monday, the resolution will direct city staff to make sure that Lennar completes the stream restoration project, and abides by other environmental guidelines.
The third development, Griscom Square, only came up during the public comment period, when three residents of Bethany Court voiced concern about the 12-home development off Tyler Avenue, which was initially approved in 2006 but is only now getting underway.
“We knew it was coming, but it never came,” said Noreen Craven. “Now that it is here and happening, it’s upsetting.”
Craven and her neighbor Martha West voiced concern about wildlife on the property, drainage issues, deforestation and increased foot traffic.
Buckley assured them that the city is arranging a meeting between neighbors and the developer. The city will not stop construction, but the mayor believes the developer, who is affiliated with Ryan Homes, will be open to suggestions.
“He has a good reputation and I believe he will be supportive,” Buckley said.