Blog: How to be A Smart NIMBY

Being something of a contrarian, I frequently found myself on the opposite side of the fence when I worked on development projects in my County jobs because I respected NIMBY’s (Not In My Back Yarders) and generally appreciated their concerns over development projects that sprung up in their back yard. That doesn’t mean I was or currently am opposed to any and all development, it just means that I believe that Carroll County deserves only the best of new development, be it residential or commercial.

Call me a disgruntled county employee if you may but I was pretty disgruntled when I worked at the County and occasionally caught sight of some staff pampering developers and being obstructionist to citizens wanting as much information as they could get on projects from housing developments to quarry expansions.

The type of development that has become a hybrid of residential and commercial development is the senior living community / assisted- living facility type. There are both elements of new housing and the impacts that come with it and commercial development and the issues of parking, traffic, lighting, architecture and landscaping that are inherent to shopping centers and retail stores. One such development is currently being proposed on Oklahoma Road in Eldersburg and the NIMBYS are out in force there. Good for them...sort of.

Let just call the proposed assisted-living/retirement/dementia center development “Sunny Vistas” (that is not its real name). People living near the new development don’t want to see any change in their area. Why shouldn’t they, Eldersburg has seen some really tacky, crappy & questionable development over the years last 2 decades? I know because I was involved in the process that approved them. It’s one of the reasons we have some of the development safeguards we have in place today, although some of the Commissioners seem intent on stripping them from the books to attract any kind of development at any cost.

The unavoidable fact of the matter with the tract of land that someone wants to build Sunny Vistas on is that the zoning for that property allows for some form of development on it, including this kind of facility. Unless the neighbors are super wealthy and can pool their money to buy the property from the developer they are likely to spin their wheels, generate much angst and perhaps spend a lot of money on a lawyer to “stop” the development only to see the County approve it because it really has no choice but to eventually do so.

In my experiences I learned that there are only two kinds of developers, smart ones and bull-headed dumb ones. The dumb ones lock horns with the County Planning Commission and neighbors and spend a ton of money and many years to get their crappy development project approved, if they ever get it approved. The smart ones know that neighbors will naturally conjure up the worst possible scenarios to emanate from the new development and ruin their own quiet lives and property values. Smart developers know that one of the first things they should do when deciding to develop a property is to sit down with County staff and learn the local ground rules and expectations AND then hold a community meeting to meet the neighbors, explain exactly what they have in mind and hear the concerns and suggestions of reasonable neighbors for their project. The new library in Finksburg is a fine example of smart development practices that succeeded for everyone.

In the case of Sunny Vistas, people are rightly concerned about traffic, the appearance of the buildings, landscaping enhancements, glaring lights, noises and how it will affect their own property values. This is a rewind of the situation that occurred when Copper Ridge was proposed for Obrecht Road in Sykesville. People in neighboring developments even voiced concerns about dementia patients walking off the facility and across their front lawns. If you have been by Copper Ridge lately you may feel that those neighbors are actually fortunate to have such a nice looking facility in their community. They were lucky to have a smart developer, Episcopal Ministries, listen to the public input and build a substantial, attractive, well landscaped facility that cares for many people in need of the special care provided there. This is no four story monstrosity with vinyl siding. It is of brick and mortar permanence and a comfortable place for
patients, staff, visitors and neighbors. The alternative could be like what is
seen in other shoddy, make it rich, assisted living homes that have cropped up
around the county.

There is a huge slug of aging Americans about to enter the age when life’s challenges become too much for them. Welcome to the baby boom generation America. Most families don’t want goofy old grandpa or grandma moving in with them and most families are not able to offer the very special, often round- the- clock, care that is needed for those with dementia illnesses.The Community is going to need more places to park grandma and grandpa and for others in its aging population to relocate to when they find that they just don’t have the ability to take care of a big house on a big lot anymore. The trick is for the Community to insist that it only get smart developers with smart development plans and the means to build a solid part of the community they are joining instead of a cookie cutter style building that spends as little as possible to get up the four walls so money can come flowing in.

The County must use all the tools it has to guide development to successful completion, not pave the way for trashy development that pulls down the adjoining community. We are fortunate that the County currently has Planning Commission members that listen to public input and know a rotten project when one is thrown before it. We are fortunate that the County has an Architecture
Review Committee that is willing to work with a developer in creating a project
that will enhance a community – before that developer spends tens of thousands
of dollars on plans that are bound to fail. The Architecture Review Committee has no legal teeth to their decisions and some of the Commissioners do not support their mission but they are still in place as of this writing and it sounds like their expertise is needed on the Sunny Vistas job because thus far the developer has not done his due diligence by meeting with either the Architecture Review Committee or the neighbors. Dare I say that at this point the developer of the tract in the spotlight isn't looking like one of the smart ones?

The neighbors of this and other new development projects have every right to fight for development that will not harm their property values, spill glaring lights onto the neighborhood, is aesthetically pleasing, architecturally substantial and minimizes any traffic impacts. The neighbors have a right to see development plans that containing accurate drawings of what is being build, not just a pretty water color sketch that is thrown out the window as soon as the project is approved.

What lies ahead for Sunny Vistas is still uncertain. I hope it is sign that the economy here is changing for the better and that new development projects will begin to surface. The County needs more shopping & dining opportunities, assisted living, some residential and plenty of commercial / industrial development if it is to be a thriving community. The trick is getting that new development to enhance living here, not make an ugly muck of it.