Rushley Road Development Concerns Community

There are 14 1/2 undeveloped acres on Rushley Road, where the rolling green hills call to mind northern Baltimore County, not the middle of Carney.

Now Craftsmen Developers wants to build Cromwell Ridge — a 34 single-family home development, priced from the high $300's and the plan is drawing concerns from the surrounding Cromwood-Coventry community.

"Over development is raping our green spaces, I can't say it any stronger than that," said Ann Collier, treasurer of the Cromwood Coventry Community Association.

Collier is among the most vocal opponents of the new development, but much of the community is in an uproar, using brightly-colored signs to voice their concerns.

Community members are worried that the new development will destroy the  green space and bring traffic, congestion and noise to a neighborhood with narrow streets and no sidewalks.

Carol Monfredo, who lives on the last lot along Rushley Road before the proposed development, has a sign in her yard with a simple message: "Stop Craftsmen," it says.

"We're obviously not happy about it," Monfredo said.

The Right to Build

The proposed development at 1907 Rushley Road includes 34 lots where the developer plans to custom-build single-family homes along two cul-de-sacs.

Zoning for development of the land has been in place since 2008, according to County Councilman David Marks.

"I've been working with the community to address issues related to this development, but the role of a councilman in the development process mostly pertains to zoning," Marks said.

The community association worked with Marks to address some of their concerns, and Marks arranged a meeting between the association, representatives of Craftsmen and their attorney, John Gontrum.

Collier, speaking on behalf of the community association, told Patch that residents would like to see the number of houses in the development significantly reduced and expressed concerns about the loss of green space in the neighborhood.

"We could settle for 15 houses," Collier said. "But the developer won't agree to that, so for now we're completely against [the development]."

Gontrum told Patch that the current zoning actually allows for more dense development.

"I think we could actually build a little more than 40 houses there," he said.

Gontrum said that for the development to be financially feasible, at least the proposed 34 homes need to be built.

Gontrum said that his clients have worked with the community regarding increased traffic concerns and the loss of green space. Among their plans, Gontrum said, Craftsmen is planning to plant a large number of trees within the development.

Collier and her group are most concerned about the amount of time that it could take to complete the project.

"They're planning to build the homes as they're sold," Collier said. "In this economy, that could take years and years. Years of that property being a mudhole, and of construction crews coming in and out of the neighborhood."

Building custom homes as they're sold is pretty standard procedure, according to Gontrum. He said that although the housing market is generally in a slump, new homes going for less than $500,000 are still selling reasonably well.

He explained that market research has indicated that the homes, set to be priced between the "high 3's" and "low 4's" will move reasonably quickly, thanks to their prime location.

"You're not dealing with a rookie developer here," Gontrum said.