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Point of View Letters to Editor

Letter to Editor: The Side Effects of the Trappe Lakeside Development

December 13, 2021 by Letter to Editor

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According to Maryland Department of  Planning (MDP),  Talbot County’s 2020 population was about 37,526. If  the Department of Environment issues its proposed groundwater sewage treatment permit  # 19-DP-3460 , thereby permitting the Lakeside development to proceed,  at build out  in  10 years at about 2031, there will be 2501 additional residences. At the Maryland average 2.67 persons per household, this will add an additional population of  about  6,677  people to Talbot  County .  The new  Talbot population would be about 44,204.  MDP had projected, without Lakeside being built, Talbot County’s population 20 years from now (2040)  would be about  41,000,  a growth of about 174 people per year over 20 years.  If Lakeside is built as planned,  the growth by 2031 would be about   668 people per year over  the next 10 years,  about 380 %  of the MDP projected rate.
Does this difference have any realistic meaning for Talbot County?
Well,  financially, it probably does.  For fiscal year 2022,  property   taxes plus income taxes  comprise  $ about $ 74 million, or  about 65.7 %  of total county revenues. The Talbot County council approved  about  $  49,971, 898.00 for education, or about 67 % of  total  local revenues. The county’s Fiscal Year 2022 school board- approved  budget is about $60,374,913.00. There are about 4703 students in  the  county’s public schools, indicating a  Fall, 2021 school  board-estimated  cost per pupil of about $13,059.00. In the 2020 census, there were about 16,425 households in  the County, meaning an average of about 0.28-0.29 students per household.   At this rate, if Lakeside is built as planned, with about 2501 new residential units, i.e. about 2501 new households, there would be  about an additional 715 pupils in the public schools.   At about $ 13,000.00 per pupil, at Lakeside  build out, this would necessitate about an additional  $9, 295,000.00 in the  schools’  budget.
Environmentally,  it  probably does. The land where Lakeside would be built is primarily the upstream land, or watershed that feeds Miles Creek, which feeds the Choptank River.  There are  7 non-tidal,  small  stream branches  of those  headwater streams , in the areas of Wright’s Mill Road, Backtown Road, Landing Neck Road, Piney Hill Road,   Koogler Road , etc. The lands feeding four of those streams will be altered from agricultural, forested, and low density rural residential  land  uses to land treatment of sewage by spray irrigation,  single family lots, town houses,  apartments,  parking , internal roadways, and commercial land uses, etc.  Those streams are already impaired by  excess  nitrogen, phosphorus and sediment, as is the  Choptank  itself, according to  Md. Dept. of Environment (MDE.). Although the development will certainly employ    sediment traps,  stormwater  ponds, rain gardens, and other  urban stormwater management measures,  runoff carrying oils, greases, lawn chemicals, lawn fertilizers, etc. will almost certainly increase.
Further,  If  Lakeside is built as planned,  at  a U.S. average of  1.88 vehicles per household,  it means that there would be about  4,700 additional vehicles in the  Trappe area. At an average 1,875 vehicle trips per  household   per year, it means that  there would be  an extra  approximately  4,664, 365 vehicle trips per year in Talbot  County.
It means that at an average  one-way vehicle trip of  8.56 miles, Lakeside could generate roughly 329,269,644 additional miles traveled per year in Talbot  County.
It means that,  at an EPA average of  0.89 lb  of greenhouse  gases per  passenger car mile, Lakeside could generate  approximately 359,349,983 lb. ( 177,675 tons) of additional  carbon dioxide in the  Trappe area  of  Talbot  County.
According to the Chesapeake Bay Program,  in 2017 about 1/3 of the nitrogen  polluting the Bay comes from atmospheric deposition as nitrogen oxides  (NOx)  or  ammonionids;  already by  2013, passenger vehicles contributed over ½  the  carbon monoxides and NOx pollution.
Nick Carter  (retired MD-DNR biologist)
Greensboro

The Spy Newspapers may periodically employ the assistance of artificial intelligence (AI) to enhance the clarity and accuracy of our content.

Filed Under: Letters to Editor

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Letters to Editor

  1. Douglas Firth says

    December 13, 2021 at 4:20 PM

    Thank you for your perspective on this Mr. Carter. Hopefully more people will start paying attention to this nightmare looming in our near future and get the MDE and the Talbot County officials to realize what effect this would have not just on Trappe but the entire county.

  2. Rich Wagner says

    December 13, 2021 at 7:48 PM

    Pretty interesting analysis. I’ll make just one comment. The greenhouse gases estimated would be generated somewhere by the people who will live in this development, whether they’re there are somewhere else. So this development will have little effect on total greenhouse gases. Tho’ I understand that some of the impact of greenhouse gases is more local, still the largest effect is simply a global one. A second-order correction might look at whether the people living in Lakeside might drive farther or differently than they would if they lived wherever else they’ll live absent Lakeside.

  3. Jay Corvan says

    December 13, 2021 at 8:36 PM

    Fascinating information. Only wish that these important statistics had come up About twenty years earlier when there was a window to object to this developmental monstrosity.

    It seems the county can’t get its act together to think long term, and never has. And why wouldn’t future costs not assessed to the developer not interest us? We will pay for years when the developer Is laughing drinking his cocktail by a pool in The Bahamas.

    I thought council was supposed to be addressing public good , not their own personal beliefs or opinions. I guess we need to remind those in power ( constantly) that they are tasked to adress public benefit and facts , not fantasy, should be the basis of policy.

    It unfortunately not many in Talbot County council tend to be convinced by evidence or fact. And this tour de force of impact on the land still falls on deaf ears.

    Ineveinswrs his long you can whistle in the wind.

  4. Alan Boisvert says

    December 13, 2021 at 9:44 PM

    Has anyone considered this Lakeside farce could be a huge April Fools joke. It takes many years to sell out new developments in Easton. Some never sell out. Where does anyone think 2500 new homeowners are coming from to live in the middle of no where with no quality shopping, employers or jobs anywhere on the shore. I mean really, get a grip people. If it’s real, it will take 20-30 years to sell out if than. Look at the latest census, people are leaving the shore, not coming. Who lot of a nothing burger.

  5. Willard Engelskirchen says

    December 14, 2021 at 11:59 AM

    Thank you for putting numbers out there. Perspective is everything.

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