FOREST HILL, Md. — Forest View Drive in Forest Hill lives up to its name with deer apparent in residents wooded back yards, but signs have now popped up in opposition to a planned subdivision, which would virtually replace the natural habitat.
“There’s a lot of different wildlife species, both birds and land animals, that live and occupy this space, some of which are migratory and come here during the spring and others that I’ve seen are federally protected that fly between here and Conowingo Dam,” said Charles Ostrander whose street borders the property.
Townhouse subdivision project back on the table in Forest Hill
Opponents say in addition to their environmental concerns surrounding the project, they also don’t think there’s expressed need for more townhomes to be built in this community.
Red Pump Crescent would be comprised of 46 three-story townhouses, but opponents say seven other developments are already in the works between Forest Hill and Bel Air, which would add more than 500 similar dwellings.
And then there’s concern over the traffic it would add to Red Pump Road.
“There’s only one entrance into the proposed community and there’s already enough traffic here as there is,” said County Council Candidate Jessica Ryley-Hammond whose picked up the opponents’ cause,
“They’re talking about putting an extra turn lane here, but people aren’t convinced that’s going to resolve the issues.”
For all of its challenges, some residents like Karl Beale recognize that their own development faced similar opposition more than two decades ago, and like it or not, he recognizes the owner of the nearly 10-acre site has rights as well.
“But if you owned the land, would you want anyone telling you what you could or couldn’t do with it?” we asked Beale.
“Oh, absolutely not,” he laughed, “and that’s the other side of the coin. You can’t tell someone what to do with their property.”
