[ Home ] [ Up ] [ About the Partnership ] [ Reports ] [ Regional Advocacy ] [ News ] [ Resources ] [ Archives ] [ Job Openings ]

The next steps for this plan will be changing County zoning law and securing state transportation funds. In taking these steps, the County will translate vision into reality. Therefore, the County must work hard to ensure that the aforementioned four elements remain central to future development in Perryman. The County also must collaborate even more closely with local citizens than in prior steps. By doing so, there is great potential to produce a final product that the community and County can be proud of – one of the state’s most exceptional examples of development that both increases a community’s economic vitality and preserves the environmental and community assets that local residents treasure most.

We have provided detailed comments on how we think the four key elements mentioned above should be addressed in zoning changes and state funding below:


Mix of Uses

The mix of uses currently proposed includes housing, retail, and office and industrial components. We believe that all three of these uses should be included to reduce traffic volumes by providing for services for future residents and workers on the peninsula. A phasing plan should be incorporated into any zoning overlay or change that will require roughly concurrent development of all three components.

We further believe that the stated focus on developing office and industrial uses that tie into Aberdeen Proving Ground is a wise one. The vast majority of future office and industrial uses on the peninsula should focus on APG-related business in order to maximize cluster industry opportunities. Further development of warehouses of the type recently built on the peninsula must be avoided because of the difficulties of transporting entry-level workers to Perryman and the availability of other land in the region suitable for this development that would require fewer state transportation funds to serve. Because much of the peninsula is beautiful, undeveloped land, state funds should only support its development if this development fills a niche (i.e. serving APG-related businesses) that cannot be served elsewhere in the region.


Mix of Housing

The housing developed on the site must provide for a mix of housing options. Any zoning legislation for Perryman should create housing choices that are accessible to all ages, from starter homes for young families to housing for the elderly. These housing choices should make it possible for people who work in jobs that have been created and will be created on the Perryman peninsula to live near their work, in order to minimize the burden on area roadways caused by commuting. Only by creating a range of housing choices – as opposed to only building housing that only top executives can afford or only building housing suitable for entry-level workers – will the vision of a community where people can both live and work become feasible.



Preservation of Critical Environmental Resources

The Perryman peninsula is an important environmental resource for Harford County , providing much of the County’s drinking water. Development on the peninsula must leave adequate land to protect the wellheads on the peninsula, something that we are particularly concerned “Alternative A” does not do.

Furthermore, the peninsula’s location near the Chesapeake Bay makes it an important environmental resource for the entire state. All development on the peninsula should therefore be required to incorporate stormwater management and environmental design techniques that minimize impact on the Bay.

We are also concerned about adequate provision of open space for current and future residents of the peninsula. The parks and greenways envisioned in the concept plan must be permanently preserved at the same time development of the peninsula takes place. Mechanisms such as clustering and transfer of development rights should be used to preserve open space, in order to minimize costs to the County of permanently preserving land and to ensure adequate compensation to owners of future parkland.


Transportation Infrastructure

The range of transportation choices currently envisioned includes both road improvements and transit improvements. We are glad that the road improvements envisioned appear to require fewer funds than road improvements previously envisioned for current zoning. However, we still would like to see further detail on the cost of the proposed road improvements, and on the environmental impacts of these improvements on wetland areas. The State of Maryland , in accordance with its Smart Growth policy, should ensure that any money spent on road improvements in Perryman supports development with the mix of uses, housing types, and environmental protection described above, especially considering that such money could otherwise be spent to improve the quality of life in existing communities.

We support state investment in the transit options have been incorporated into the plans for Perryman. Access to the MARC line through a stop on the peninsula, and perhaps through a shuttle system to that stop, is crucial to providing transportation options for both those who live outside the area and work in Perryman and those who may live in the new homes and work elsewhere. The state government should look closely at existing and planned development and work closely with the local community to select the most effective station location. We also encourage the County and the State to implement transit on the peninsula as part of a broader plan to add more MARC trains to Harford County . Additional service is needed and wanted by many people in the county and throughout the region.


It is critical that the road and transit improvements envisioned be put in place before the completion of the development that they will serve. Already, traffic on the peninsula poses a safety threat to local communities because the current infrastructure is woefully inadequate to support current levels of development. Before future levels of development make the problem worse, transportation facilities that meet the needs of both current and future development must be in place.


Next Steps

Again, we thank you for the opportunity to review the Perryman vision, and hope that this vision is the first step towards replacing current zoning with a more sustainable future for the peninsula. We cannot emphasize enough that a successful plan must be implemented not only through conceptual sketches, but also through concrete changes to zoning laws that will ensure the quality of development envisioned. At every step of this process, from further visioning to legal change to development, the local community must be engaged in a proactive manner.

We look forward to continuing to work with you, local citizen groups, developers, and other county and state officials to make a plan for Perryman incorporating a mix of uses, mix of housing types, preservation of environmental resources, and adequate transportation infrastructure a reality.

Sincerely,

Dan Pontious
Director

CC:

Joe Kocy, Director, Planning and Zoning, Harford County
Harford County Council
District 34 delegation to the Maryland General Assembly
John Porcari, Secretary, Maryland Department of Transportation
Harriet Tregoning, Secretary, Governor’s Office of Smart Growth
Roy Kienitz, Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
Jane Nishida, Secretary, Maryland Department of the Environment
Don Halligan , Maryland Department of Transportation
Harry Webster, President, Perryman-Forest Greens Community Association
Valerie Twanmoh, President, Friends of Harford

Baltimore Regional Partnership · 512 Orchard Street  · Baltimore, MD 21201-1947
 phone: (410) 523-8150  x249 · fax: (410) 523-4022