We went to a districting meeting which concerns a brand new neighborhood that is in the planning stages right here in Crofton, Maryland and wanted to share our notes with you.
The Enclave at Riedel Pond is going to be built in an area that many may not realize is there. As you drive down Riedel Road going towards Rt. 3 leaving Crofton, you’ll pass Nantucket Road and before you reach Crofton Valley, there is an area where the entrance to the community will be. A long road will lead you back into a huge, well-planned neighborhood with a lot of common area space and walking trails; a total of about 200 acres of property. The subdivision is already drawn out and the plan is to build 182 single-family homes, no townhomes or condos.
As most Crofton Maryland residents know, the schools throughout Crofton are highly rated in Anne Arundel County, many are Blue Ribbon schools, so it probably comes as no surprise that the newest Crofton school, Nantucket Elementary, is already past capacity and is considered a closed school by the county. In Anne Arundel County, once a school is at or beyond 100% capacity, it becomes a closed school so no new neighborhoods can be added to it. Crofton Middle School is also projected to be at capacity in the very near future as is South River High School.
This brings the county to the dilemma of what schools to send the kids who are going to move into The Enclave at Riedel Pond. With this location, their normal schools would be Nantucket Elementary, Crofton Middle, and South River High School, so the districting proposal for this neighborhood is Crofton Meadows Elementary, Arundel Middle and Arundel High School. Currently The Enclave at Riedel Pond is a proposed active adult community, which means it is age restricted to one of the buyers being 55 or older and no one under 18 living in the home full time.
The problem with this as you may guess is that the demand for age restricted housing is not very great in this area and people who live in neighborhoods now with age restrictions either are unable to sell their homes, or they are losing a ton of money when they do sell. This situation is simply not good for our community or our neighborhoods to continue to build restrictive housing. There are only a few lots throughout Crofton where you can buy new homes and no area the size of The Enclave at Riedel Pond. Crofton has so many townhomes and condos available and when those people want to sell and move up, there currently are only a handful of new homes available.
If this neighborhood is open to ALL PEOPLE and not just 55 and older, the builder will be able to build higher quality homes (because demand will be higher for non age restricted homes) and that will help the surrounding neighbors keep the values of their homes. In Anne Arundel County, the subdivision process is lengthy and complicated and this subdivision has been in the planning stages since 2005. As we all know, the market has changed and the economy has change dramatically. A project like this one we feel will be a good one for the area and potentially fuel the domino effect in housing and it will also put more people to work.
We understand the concerns of people who are concerned about schools becoming fuller, but we have also lost good teachers when school capacity drops. South River High School in Edgewater Maryland recently lost one of their administrators, some kids say the best one, because their enrollment declined. Keeping the capacity in the schools will keep our good teachers in their schools and keep that stability.
According to what we were told in the meeting, if the districting is not approved, the law is that if the schools stay at capacity, then in 6 years the neighborhood can be built anyway and those kids will go to the school they are districted for so it’s either help get them districted to the schools which have the capacity or in 6 years they will be going to Nantucket, Crofton Middle and Arundel High School and odds are there will be more major redistricting at that time.
The timeframe currently is they should have final approval by the end of 2012, then will be working on the infrastructure and plumbing and the first homeowners should be moving in there in about 3 years and they are estimating 5-6 years until the community is totally built out.
The powerpoint presentation we viewed is available on the Anne Arundel County Public Schools website, www.aacps.org.
No one has a crystal ball so we don’t know what is going to happen but if you want a say, come to the hearing on March 20, 2012 at 7pm at South River High School in Edgewater Maryland and hear testimony at the public hearing. It will be interesting to hear what everyone has to say! Oh, and if you want to be kept in the loop as far as this neighborhood goes, email or call and we'll keep you informed!
Here is a diagram of approximately where the neighborhood is:
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