Howard County takes aim at infill development

BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Angie Boyter has seen the same culprits time and time again. New, larger homes — sandwiched on the lots of the smaller, existing houses — that she says are destroying her neighborhood.

“When you move into a developed community, you expect it to stay the way it is,” the Ellicott City resident said.

The new houses built on subdivided lots crowd the neighbors, cause flooding from inadequate storm-water facilities, demolish trees and ruin the character of the neighborhood, which is dotted with large lots and custom homes built mostly in the 1950s, said Boyter.

Boyter and some neighbors bemoan so-called infill development, which is squeezing homes into existing neighborhoods. In one lot near Boyter’s MacAlpine Road home, a stone and brick home shares its front yard with two large, two-story aluminum houses.

Infill development is happening across the area, as homeowners feel the financial pressures to sell part of their land to developers or want to boost profit when they sell. But this raises community concerns, said Jeff Long, deputy director of the Baltimore County Office of Planning. “It comes down to compatibility and expectations,” he said.

In Howard, County Council members are debating legislation aimed at curbing infill. Landowners can preserve certain small residential lots and sell the right to build to a developer. The developer can then transfer those building rights to a denser project to be built on land of at least 15 acres.

The legislation “is designed to provide an option for residents considering subdivision,” said the bill’s sponsor, Council Chairwoman Courtney Watson, D-District 1.

Several residents in Watson’s district testified at a public hearing this week in favor of the legislation, including Diane Butler, vice president of the St. Johns Lane Community Association.

“Infill is destroying our neighborhood,” said Butler.

Some Columbia residents had protested the bill, saying they didn’t want the problem transferred to their neighborhoods and the complex zoning of Columbia is already being overhauled to allow for revitalization. Watson has agreed to exclude Columbia from the areas that would receive density.

Meanwhile, Baltimore County relies on a Design Advisory Panel to review developments in certain neighborhoods to ensure compatibility, Long said. 

If done right, infill development can follow the state’s Smart Growth policy, which targets development to areas with existing infrastructure, he said.

“I think it’s consistent with Smart Growth as long as the impacts aren’t so great that they devalue the property,” Long said.

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com

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