Regarding the letter to the editor Jan 4 2022 by Calvin Yowell. I have to say needs clarification, and Boy do I disagree with the good faith comments Mr Yowell made in his letter.
In my 18 years experience of wrestling this Rocks, Rauch developer on this very project in Trappe, there isn’t a glimpse of good faith this developer has come forward with. In my experience, it’s always a constant and slick barrage of revisions with the developers rights and responsibility agreements, always his lawyers weaseling out of prior agreements and responsibilities, Always pushing the edge of what they can get away with. Always looking to take advantage of action with no defenses. Very disingenuous indeed.
If you attended or sat in on the last Dan Watson presentation to Talbot County council you will have witnessed Dan’s summary of the misrepresentations this developer and Maryland department of Environment have brought to this ill fated project. You will not be struck by sincerity and straightforward goodness from the developer but rather untruths and misrepresentations. Mr Yowell must not be following closely. It was a shocking litany of horrors and missteps.
If you go back to look at the 2006 “ Fodor report” which was created by a forensic accounting firm hired to look into how the developer structured the annexation of property to the town of Trappe and it’s proposed “special tax district”, the developer went as far as to create a special exemption tax zone for the new village area where taxes are not charged or linked to the same rate as in town taxes , ( in effect creating a new town within an old town but not sharing the fiscal responsibilities within) you will see what amounts to complete disingenuous and very questionable developer behavior. This much is fully known by forensic experts who do Know what they are talking about. Do we question the credentials of an accounting company and trust them less than we trust the developer. That’s a hardy no from me. I’d suggest that accountants know as much about tax evasion as does any developer and can spot a rotten egg when they see one. They sure saw a rotten one in 2006.
So I fully reject this developer has acted in good faith and if you believe that , you haven’t been following this project very long. In fact the letter Calvin Yowell wrote looks a lot like a plea for developers rights and I’m surprised more readers of the Talbot Spy haven’t been thoroughly outraged.
Not to make to big a complaint here about the article / letter, I think there are a few good points and quite as many bad points to be made. I’m well aware that growth must be accommodated. Good design will bring prosperity to a region. Yes, the entire project should be re-evaluated. Yes, the developer should not be allowed to hook up to a failed wastewater system. Yes, MDE should be held in contempt of its own environmental laws. And Yes, developers deserve the right to create good local communities , but if you look at the plan for Lakeside, it’s not a community, It’s suburban sprawl and it’s exactly the kind of thing the 2016 county comprehensive plan tries desperately to prohibit. In the discussions with Talbot County, it was obvious the development was way out of character. Four story Mid rise apartment buildings clustered around a lake with paddle boats and a yacht club does not define a idyllic waterfront Chesapeake community to me. It speaks more of a Florida coastal resort or Reston Virginia. I think the developer should just simply retire having done enough damage to our area. Easton club east isn’t a model community in any stretch of the imagination.
But Mr Yowell does not mention the things the developer has neglected to provide namely because these items that make a development a community that developer has omitted , are not profitable, they diminish profit, yet that part is essential to creating community. That would be a failure of the developer to provide anything that resembles an adequate public facility Plan.
Once delivered the 2500 development houses, a full sized town, where’s the no public facilities: no post office, no churches, no parks , no schools, no town hall, no firehouse, etc etc not just water and sewer , only the most basic of utilities are provided and nothing else.
If these essential public services are not provided for, local taxes will have to go up to pay for their Construction. You simply can’t build a full sized town with no functional center. The developers sleight of hand here pretends that this really isn’t a town, it’s a bedroom community, and shouldn’t need these community facilities.
But actually, the proposed physical fully built out PUD is actually eight times the size of the existing town 300 house town. Amazingly the existing town has more essential public facilities in place now than the developer provides with his 8 times expansion plan. You can only imagine how overtaxed the school system will be, the roads will be, how thoroughly unlivable this project will be. And once realized the developer will have vanished.
So the community facility aspect of this is dreadfully lacking. And it’s intentionally omitted and it’s also because the town of Trappe has not demanded it as they should. One wonders why they haven’t.
Anyway, Talbot county is the last emergency brake for this pending horrific sprawl development. We shouldn’t feel a tinge of sorry or regrets for a developer with very deep pockets from northern Virginia coming spreading suburban legacy in a place where it’s not wanted and least of all needed. That’s really the least of our worries. His greed has literally boxed himself into this current county versus developer predicament.
Yes, Mr Yowell, We need to start over completely, and drive some sense into this horrible plAnned unit development. I’ll go that far. But feel sorry for an exploited developer , nope, not a chance.
Jay Corvan
Trappe
Joyce DeLaurentis says
Absolutely spot on, Mr. Corvan.
Tyler Willis says
Every time I’m forced to drive by this travesty my jaw drops, and I’m left with utter frustration and a whole bunch of expletives. what can I say? Good comment, could not agree more.
Bob Jones says
Add this to the elite enclave being developed by Rocks Jr., i.e. Mr. Prager, in Easton, and you have Talbot County getting a total makeover. Traffic issues, less public access waterfront and the devaluation of the finest retirement living community in the Mid-Atlantic Region, Londonderry. Will our county council defend us from the carpetbaggers or will they feast at the Big Boys’ table where spiffs and political futures are handed out like Halloween candy? Sure, raising taxes to maintain a town is tough but you wanted public office leadership jobs and now you’ve got them. It’s a lot easier to just open the gates to the barbarians and sell the lie that their spending will trickle down to the towns as manna from property taxes, overlooking that total costs and needs will expand exponentially in comparison to the revenue that is projected without regard to the consequences in comparable areas. Then, there are the quality of life issues raised by those who are attacked for being anti-business. If you are so pro-business, get outa town and go live in a business community.
Joyce DeLaurentis says
No question that unintended effects that can be predicted need to be taken into account on such waterfront development with commercial. i.e what little we have in downtown Easton will further erode. Easton, east side of the bypass could implode in various ways.
Michael Davis says
Carpetbaggers? Barbarians? This is the language forged and then promoted in the racist post-Civil War south. Watch the movie “Birth of a Nation.” if you doubt where these words come from.
One should be able to oppose this development without using racist language.
Sheilah Egan says
Mr. Corvan, thank you for a clear, concise, and informative letter. Many of your “why not” questions are right on target. . . Why hasn’t MDE questioned this proposal right from the beginning? Why hasn’t there been more outrage from Talbot County citizens and/or those of Trappe itself?
Scary to think how persistent the developers and legal teams have been in trying to dupe the people living here already as well as potential citizens who will be left with little or no services.
Douglas Firth says
Well said Mr. Corvan!!
This certainly gives us another perspective on this upcoming travesty!
Will this WAKE UP our TALBOT COUNTY OFFICIALS??
Only time will tell.
Paul Rybon, St. Michaels says
I think that the county planners have done a good job of anticipating the intense pressure for growth in Talbot County. They realized that the hordes were coming one way or another. Growth allocations were developed to try to cluster residential builds with essential services nearby but not intermingled. A quick study of the gridlock that has overtaken much of the Urban lands in Maryland will confirm what we’re saying. It’s a total transformation of land use and it’s coming whether we Talbots like it or not.
Janice Otter says
Finally! The letter that everyone needs to read. The information no one else has bothered to address. A clear and concise history and the current state of what’s going wrong with Trappe’s planned Lakelands housing development. A letter for anyone who lives in Talbot County and anyone who loves Talbot County. I fully support the efforts to rein in the developers dated, dull and ecologically blind plans.
Thank you Mr. Corvan.
Jill Poe says
Wake up Talbot County. Karma is knocking at your door. Locking the barn door after the horse is out is fruitless. The commissioners better start looking toward what is happening on Port Street. Maybe they need to keep hiding behind rewriting history to satisfy those who would rather focus on mocking the past and let the future run amuck.
Katherine Herbert says
Right on!