Submitted by lnbp2022 t3_11gabao in ColumbiaMD
Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering if anyone knows if/what is being done with the area around Old Route 108 around the border of Columbia + Ellicott City. I think there were some houses taken down recently, but I'm curious if there's any plans in place for that area.
Used to live there...the last thing that area and part of 108 needs is more traffic. I hate MoCo and HoCo for their propensity to overdevelop, especially in areas that are already at the cusp of overpopulation and at the expense of our woodlands.
> the last thing that area and part of 108 needs is more traffic
I agree, and it's sort of a double-edged sword here
One of the best ways to combat urban sprawl, and traffic, is creating high-density housing, with good pedestrian accessibility, and good public transportation
Public transport in HoCo leaves something to be desired, to say the least
On every other side of the Dorsey Hall Village Center, there was already high-density housing instead of single-family homes with yards, and it has been that way for decades
On the bright side, it's near a center that has a number of essential needs, which increases walkability at least a little bit and could reduce traffic in that regard
> at the expense of our woodlands.
I agree 100%. The value of green spaces is often underrated IMO
It remains to be seen if the developer has any sense of respect for the value green spaces provide to a community
I think it's probably as responsible a spot as any to develop, but without improvements to pedestrian accessibility and better public transport, traffic will inevitably become more challenging to deal with
People move to these counties because that's where the jobs are. When you restrict development, housing becomes more expensive for everybody. It also just drives people to move to places like Carroll, which increases traffic and leads to even more sprawl.
I think folks are upset that the developers aren’t in sync with the Rouse vision. Developers aren’t building villages anymore for communities sake. They are doing more houses in smaller areas for more profit.
The villages created by Rouse were high density townhomes or even higher density apartments. The successor to Rouse's company Howard Hughes developers want to build these but people are blocking them from doing so thus leading to lower density housing units and a shortage of housing. Rouse's vision was to create communities with a racial and socioeconomic diversity and Howard County has become more and more segregated on both fronts.
Curious if you have examples of it being more segregated. Maybe the mall development recently. River Hill does not have apartments like Oakland Mills or Long Reach do. We've always thought Columbia was at max capacity. The place OP is referring to is such a weird spot to build.
Here's a Baltimore Banner article about increasing segregation. This is a more in depth report about the housing market in HoCo and the rising costs of housing due to lack of supply. Matter of opinion but I think that spot is a good place to put higher density homes. It's right next to the village, and there are vacant storefronts that could use the extra customers.
"Today, Columbia is more diverse than ever. Census figures show the community is 49% white and 28% Black, with fast-growing Asian (13%) and Hispanic or Latino (9%) populations."
Diversity is there....
"The troubling thing we found was an increasing or creeping segregation that appears to be occurring in Columbia with the isolation of African Americans from the white community and decrease of exposure between racial groups in Columbia"
The only land available to build on is far way from Oakland Mills/Long Reach/Hammond/Wilde Lake which supports her claim of whites living farther from African Americans. I think we are in a catch 22. It's a zoning issue.
It’s a zoning issue but not in the way I think you’re saying. There is zero reason (aside from nimby-ism). There are houses in poor condition, why not allow homeowners to rebuild them into triplexes that are similar size to the houses near them (within a certain % greater), or convert their existing single family detached homes into duplexes? Or allow ADU’s on larger lots?
Most owners won’t do this, so it will be slow and gentle. Why not allow homeowners to allow their properties to work for their families?
Thanks ill check it out
They tried, Walsh jung yungmann on the council cut the funding that would have created affordable units (Bc affordability requires funding interventions). They put it in contingency and the developer had to do market rate because they wouldn’t allow it to be affordable.
Yeah the morning commute the traffic leaving the Dorsey area between the two lights is bad. The distance between the two lights and those lights are out of sync to handle more people in that area. The townhouses I imagine would be a continuation of those brick ones behind it. What a god awful view of 108 for 500k lol
https://www.google.com/maps/@39.2402061,-76.8433059,3a,90y,358.71h,93.32t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1snl0UOghX2NS9QtMA9oIKww!2e0!7i13312!8i6656
This is what OP is talking about if anyone is curious. Look at the view from your front window on the 3rd level when these things get built, beautiful view of 108 LOL what an eye soar
This is what you get when you elect a County Exec. that is bought and paid for by developers.
Did you build your own house?
No, but I got a great deal on an acre of land during the Rouse era where my neighbor isn’t wall to wall to me for twice the cost.
The amount of money needed to run for county executive requires some wealthy people to be in your pocket in order to fund the race.
In Howard County it’s usually a housing development named for the nature it destroyed… or a bank.
What's the name of the development you live in?
I don't know what the end result was, but here's a blog post from 2020 describing the construction plans and NIMBYism happening.
The "champion" of affordable housing Liz Walsh blocked the apartment complex with designated affordable units. The area is already zoned for higher density, so now townhomes are being built instead.
Not to get way off topic but I wouldn’t trust anything written by that blog. It’s run by Jenny Solpietro, who is basically a parrot for her friend local developer lobbyist Tom Coale.
The irony of running a “progressive” blog while working for Lockheed Martin has somehow been completely lost on her too, lol.
While not a fan of the military industrial complex, a job is a job and you have to pay the bills somehow. Not everyone can work at an NGO. Besides there's a lot of military hawks with a progressive domestic agenda on the Left and vice versa. You don't have to adhere to every aspect of the most far left of the Democratic Party to be a progressive.
Riiiiight… I hear this all the time living in this area and it cracks me up.
“Yeah, I work for one of the most evil companies on the planet, one whose growth is predicated on endless (and usually illegal) wars and bombings but, hey, a job’s a job right?”
She’ll post about police brutality and gun deaths while working here:
For better or worse we are all cogs in a much larger system. I don't blame coal miners for global warming and I certainly don't think their opinions are more or less valid because of their occupation. I blame our government for not investing enough in clean energy and local activist groups from blocking solar panel projects because they dont like the look of panels. Ad hominem criticism are one of the weakest rhetorical points. Particularly when what we're talking about is an increase in housing units, which we can legitimately argue about merits/demerits and the attack is about...foreign policy.
That’s so noble of you not to blame coal minors trying to survive in an economically depressed area or engineers, software developers, or other well-educated individuals that I’m talking about working at Lockheed in one of the wealthiest areas on the planet.
Just two groups of similar people, with so few options available to them, trying to grind it out in the great American experience.
Do you mean near the intersection of 108 and Columbia Rd? They're building low income housing there.
The least they could've done was keep the trees there. It would've looked much better than seeing housing right next to a busy highway. Plus there was plenty of space there to keep the trees while still building the development
Dorsey Overlook - an 82 unit mixed-income apartment complex
That was blocked by Liz Walsh on the council. See above commenters.
They were using those houses for fire drill tests and police raid tests. It might be a part of the new irrigation and water stuff they're doing. I've been curious to look it up in the county planner.
mysteryweapon t1_jankz28 wrote
I don't know for sure, but my best guess is more high density townhouses