It is not every day that a town council decides to remove property from a historic district, but that’s what the Easton Town Council did Monday night.
It was proposed that lots 130 and 141 North Harrison Street, property located across the street from Harrison Liquor, be redrawn outside the existing Easton Historic District. While there was no opposition, either in person or by letter, to the proposed change, Council members were reassured by staff that this would not remove legal safeguards from how the sites might be developed in the future.
The Spy thought this was an interesting discussion to share, hence the length of our excerpt.
This video is approximately 15 minutes in length
Marshall Weingarden says
This is on a more urgent matter. The Talbot County Council has drafted a new Comprehensive Plan. At the one open meeting at which citizens were allowed to comment, of the dozens of speakers, only one had support for the plan which includes building affordable housing in the Royal Oak area. They have just announced a second meeting which citizens can attend, but make not comments. The meeting, announced less than a week in advance is scheduled for December 29th, a date that is inconvenient to many especially with many having out of town visitors or being away themselves. It is to be held at 4PM when most working persons cannot attend.
The Council has told citizens that comments cannot be reviewed if sent to individual council members, but only to a newly established email address: [email protected] . How many residents have gotten this information is unknown.
I have written them that there is a more suitable plan to develop the needed affodable housing. My letter follows:
At the recent Talbot County Council board meeting, many residents expressed opposition to the plan to have affordable housing built in the Royal Oak area. Complaints were based mainly on concerns about road capacity and safety.
There is an obvious and agreed upon need for such housing in the County. However, there was no discussion of the value of the proposed plan to the prospective owners of the affordable homes and if they would want to live there. An alternate plan exists, one that I think that would be more desirable to the potential homeowners and with less cost to the taxpayers of Talbot County.
Instead of building new homes in a remote area, rehab of existing homes within the towns should be expanded. This offers many advantages to both the County and to the affordable home buyers. The advantages of rehabbing in towns are listed below:
1. Cost of rehabilitating an existing house will be less than designing and building a new one.
2. Fixing existing homes within the towns will upgrade the communities in which they are located.
3. Homeowners would not be removed from familiar settings and friendships to a remote area.
4. Children will not be taken from their friends and forced to change schools. The roads in the Royal Oak area are too narrow and dangerous for the children to bicycle to neighboring towns.
5. Workers will not be forced to have the expense of commuting by auto. The Town of Easton will soon have a walking/bicycling path from Route 322 to the Route 33 gate of Waterside Village with traffic lights at both ends. It is within Waterside Village that many of the affordable housing applicants will probably be employed.
6. Shopping and entertainment would be nearby. It would not be necessary to make a sixteen mile round trip to go to the supermarket, Easton Cinema or to an event at an Easton school or senior center.
7. Living in a community of only affordable housing would reduce their contacts with more economically successful persons who might be able to introduce them to better paying jobs.
8. Integrating the housing within town would give the children contact with more successful role models.
9. Having a community of affordable houses might “ghettoize” them. In school, the children might be stigmatized and taunted.
You might find that those, for whom you plan to build the homes, would not want to live in a remote area which necessitated a costly commute and the uprooting of their families. In addition, you might find that few could qualify for mortgages because of outstanding debt.
Following the plan to build a community of affordable homes in a remote area might well prove to be both a societal and financial embarrassment.
Marshall Weingarden
8192 Gatherly Circle
Easton, MD 21601