Gambrills project challenged

Narrow, historic Old Dairy Farm Road would suddenly turn into a daily thruway for hundreds of cars if the proposed 22-acre Highland Farm subdivision is built without roadway improvements, Gambrills residents said.

Arguments against the size and density of the proposed project - 27 single-family homes and 50 upscale townhomes - began Oct. 28 before the county Board of Appeals in Annapolis.

Neighboring residents said they are appealing preliminary designs and sketches for Highland Farm, which were recently approved by the county Department of Planning and Zoning.

"It seems like everywhere you go these days, especially in west county, there's a new subdivision," said Rick Berger, who said he has lived in the area for more than 35 years.

As Odenton has expanded, housing subdivisions have slowly enveloped west county toward Gambrills and residents have decried the loss of much of the traditional rural appearance of their neighborhoods.

Berger said that sometime during the early 1980s the county revised the area's zoning from one home per acre to four or five homes per acre in an effort to bring county water and sewer to the area.

"I would've stayed on my own well and water if I would've known we would be smacked with this 20, 25 years later," he said.

Normally, builders are required to mitigate traffic problems their proposed development might impose. But because the county designated the two-lane Old Dairy Farm Road as one of its historic and scenic roads, county planning and zoning officials determined that roadway improvements were not required for Highland Farm.

The county is set to turn the nearby 875-acre former Naval Academy Dairy Farm into an agricultural and environmental preserve. That is even more reason for the county to at least scale back the Highland Farm project, opposing residents said.

Ribera Development never put together a traffic-impact study for Highland Farm, Berger said. Residents estimated that the new homes would add more than 900 daily trips on the road, he said.

John Stamato, president of the Riva Road-based development firm, declined to comment on the case before the Board of Appeals.

Original plans for Highland Farm called for 90 townhomes. Plans were later revised to include single-family homes.

Berger said residents want Ribera to scrap the townhomes. "Ideally, we wouldn't want any development," he said.

Old Dairy Farm Road narrows to 15 feet at some points, causing motorists to often drive down the middle of the road, even around blind turns, west county activist Dave Daughters said.

Developers told county officials they would funnel Highland Farm traffic quickly off Old Dairy Farm Road with no-turn signs for drivers exiting the neighborhood.

County Executive John R. Leopold instructed planning and zoning officials to make sure Ribera takes all available steps to reduce traffic on Old Dairy Farm Road.

The subdivision has not yet been approved, according to the county.

The appeals board indefinitely postponed hearings on the adjacent Highland Meadows subdivision, the second phase of the community. Preliminary designs for that project have not yet been released, officials said.

The Board of Appeals plans to continue hearing testimony in the case in January, Daughters said. It has 60 days to rule on a matter after closing testimony.