Bowie residents, city officials voice concerns over proposed 440-home development
It was only two days before the Bowie City Council's Monday meeting when Fiona Moodie learned there would be a hearing on a proposed 440-unit residential development right next to her neighborhood.
The revelation led Moodie, a 24-year-old Bowie resident, to knock on doors throughout her Idlewild neighborhood to inform residents of the plan and ask if they would sign a petition opposing the development.
It received over 130 signatures in just 48 hours, Moodie said.
"I spent my whole weekend out in 100-degree weather making sure all these residents had an opportunity to come here today," Moodie said Monday. "Although this wasn't a meeting where (the City Council) were making any decisions, the residents should be informed from the get-go."
The meeting Monday night was only an informational hearing with no votes cast on the project. It was the first time members of the City Council received an official briefing on the proposal from a representative of developer Elm Street Development.
But that didn't stop over 100 residents from gathering at Bowie City Hall to air their concerns about the proposed construction — a mix of single-family detached houses and for-sale town homes — set to straddle Route 450 next to Sacred Heart Church and White Marsh Park.
Locals express worries
The evening began with residents appearing before the council to voice what troubles them about the proposed development on about 150 acres of land known as the "Jesuit property."
Frances Longwell, a Bowie resident and former deputy state's attorney for Calvert County, said there has been a recent uptick in crime in the area, and that the proposed construction would only make the problem worse.
"There are now people who won't go to Taco Bell at night because of the people hanging out at Taco Bell," Longwell said. "Apartment complexes do nothing but generate crime."
Mike Lange, of Bowie, stressed to council members that the value of his neighbors' homes are already on the decline — saying one neighbor is selling his "pristine" house originally worth $600,000 for $450,000 — and that adding the proposed 440 units will "dampen the value of all of our current homes."
"It is going to continue to lower the value of our homes for years to come," Lange said. "Once that Jesuit property is developed and it's all built, there will constantly be houses going up for sale up there … and it's just pushing the value of our other houses down."
Other concerns from residents included the preservation of nature and wildlife in the area, and how Bowie High School, which many people described as overcrowded, would cope with an influx of additional students.
A final concern was that the neighborhood of Idlewild, which has just one entrance and exit, would be opened up to busy traffic. The plans for the development include connecting Irongate Lane, now a dead-end street in Idlewild, with the residential complex.
That has many residents, including Moodie, worried that it will prompt an increase of fast-paced traffic from Race Track Road into the neighborhood.
"Residents should be informed from the get-go about the possibility that 300 cars are going to be racing through our neighborhood," she said.
The developer's take
The meeting grew tense when Chris Hatcher, who represented the developers behind the proposal, appeared before the council to guide attendees through a PowerPoint slide show detailing the changes that would come with the project.
Some residents interrupted Hatcher as he went through his presentation, shouting such things as "Can you speak up?" and "This is the 21st century; does he have a laser pointer?"
Mayor G. Frederick Robinson asked members of the audience to quiet down multiple times, emphasizing that this was just an informational proposal and no votes would be cast that night. He also noted that there are "probably four or five years of loops in the project," which includes rezoning the land from "residential estate" and "residential agriculture" to "residential suburban."
That didn't assuage the fears of all residents, however.
"He is going to make a fortune off our property, and now he doesn't have the decency to show us where we are," Margaret Moodie, the 57-year-old mother of Fiona Moodie, shouted out after some residents couldn't determine what areas Hatcher was referring to on a map of development plans.
Hatcher emphasized that Elm Street Development, founded in 1977, has lasted for nearly 40 years because of its transparent nature, and that there were plans for more meetings with stakeholders in the future.
"They have been doing this for a very long time and they have a reputation for being open and transparent," Hatcher said. "They do what they say and they say what they do, and that's important to them because that's how you have a business for many years."
City officials speak up
Members of the City Council, however, made remarks that suggested Hatcher has an uphill battle to receive approval.
Councilwoman Diane Polangin voiced concern that some of the land set for development is very close to a cemetery, and that "what really troubles me is you might be disturbing some people's forever home."
Councilman Henri Gardner questioned just how lucrative the project could be for Elm Street Development, asking Hatcher "Have you guys really taken a close look at the current housing market in the region?"
Gardner also signaled his opposition to the plan.
"I don't care what you want to present; I couldn't support anything going into those locations," Gardner said. "We are open for business, but we are not for sale."
Margaret Moodie, a resident of Bowie for 25 years since moving there from London, said she and her daughter will continue to attend council meetings to push back against the development plan — which she says will "destroy" her neighborhood.
"If I had known where this city was going when we first arrived here, I wouldn't have moved here," Moodie said. "If this is going to happen we will not stay, and every single person I spoke to today said they will have a for-sale sign in front of their house."
