Builders & developers (Pillagers&Blights)

[alex]

Hessian,

It is not the planners fault.  They have to allow these developers to build as long as the county's UDC allows it.  How many of us would be the first to complain if we wanted to put an addition on our home, met all the requirements but then the county planners said no?  

The real fault lies with the County Commissioners who approve these plans and developers who have bought the Commissioners.

 

[vraiblonde]

There's got to be more to strip mall building than what we're seeing.  Why would a businessman see empty (and therefore low income-producing) strip malls, then decide to build one himself?  You're supposed to tag after <i>successful</i> businesses, not losers.  So how does this work?  Someone puts money into build a strip mall, then the goal is to rent out the spaces, right?  So why do they keep building them when the renters aren't there?  Obviously you need an anchor store to draw traffic - where are they?

 

[Hessian]

I get the feeling that there is a safety net awaiting any idiot that wants to build a strip mall/plaza. They wine & dine the commissioners, get pledges for assistance with roads, water, sewage, runoff, traffic lights--then get their loans guarrenteed by the bank or some municipal bonds Then,
They get some 2 year contract by an anchor store and boom they're off to the bank already spending $$ they haven't earned. They make promises,...then after building the wasteland, they create "cost overruns" ..get more loans, then if they don't hit 50% occupancy, they declare bankruptcy, change their name & start all over again somewhere else.
Who made the money?
Lawyers,
Bankers who got Fed/State guarrentees,
And off course the builder who pencils in a new license number on their trucks and orders a new set of business cards.

What do we get?
More run-off, road construction & traffic lights, empty store fronts...gee, thanks.
Hey PF Library...not happy with the new grading, parking, renovations that we've been paying for years? Sorry we can't assuage your greed.

(Edited by Hessian at 7:11 pm on Mar. 6, 2002)

 

[jellybean]

From what I was told a movie theater and/or bowling alley was to go into First Colony. They decided that demographics showed the businesses wouldn't carry enough clientele. Too bad they didn't come up with the same numbers for the strip malls!

Hurrah that they have removed most of the vehicles from the Lowe's parking lot.  Also read that there was interest in building boutique shops in Lowe's, but the builder won't commit to the sale until he gets approval from the County Commissioners.

 

[Brandon]

First of all, Lilly, I know where you can get an oil filter!  

As for housing "booming" in St. Mary's County, our population grew around 1.5% per year over the last 10 years, which is hardly a boom. Those planning for the "boom" expected the population to be over 100,000 in 2000, and when the census numbers came in around 87K, no boom!

The great thing about St. Mary's County is that it is still located in the USA. We can get a 30 year mortgage to build a house. People can take a chance on building a business, strip mall,  restaurant, hotel, whatever. Others can compliment or criticize and ultimately the patrons decide what is needed in a community, and not the government or special interest groups or individuals. Thankfully, people are willing to invest in St. Mary's County.

Now, about that oil filter...

 

[Lilly]

Brandon- Oil Filter?  Did I miss something?  **So Confused**

I want to go back to soemthing that Chuckster said:

chuckster on 6:47 am on Feb. 26, 2002[br]The shopping center in Calloway was not a dumb move. It was thought out and planned that way. Guess you don't know that Peggs Rd is going to run right past that side of the shopping center so it will be facing a major road. That puts the A&W right on the corner with a light. There is also two other pad sites there for another restaurant and a bank.

Do you know that this is for sure?  Has it already been approved by the forces that be?  I was thinking about this the other day as I was driving in this area.  How can they extend Pegg Rd. without crossing Indian Bridge Rd.?  Where would this intersection be?  I would be pretty upset if I lived back this way.  I know a number of people who have prized thier homes in this area for thier seclusion - off the beaten track location.  I would hate to hear that they would neighbor a major intersection.

 

[chuckster]

Lilly, form what I understand Peggs Rd will be extended and intersect Indian Bridge Rd and continue out to the light at 249 and 5. I am researching this to find out if it is fact or fiction. All indications are that it will at some time happen.
Brandon, I can't beleive that you said that the local government or special interests groups DON"T decide what is needed in a community. Do you really think that? Some local governments have kept the "Big Box" stores, such as WalMart, out of some communities. But politics is a whole different forum. I do beleive that politicians get elected for one reason..... to get re-elected and keep the cushy job.

 

[chuckster]

Now back on the subject of builders. I would strongly suggest, that if you are going to have a house built in St Mary's County, you do your homework first. I found this out the hard way. We were told that the house that we wanted and designed could and would be completed in 120 days from closing on the property. Well it took the 120 days and another 90 to 120 on top of that. All we would get was excuses and lies why the house was taking so long to build. First the materials were back-ordered ... then the subs wouldn't show up .... then our subs had to be called ... one thing after another. Once the house was completed, the broker who said that our mortgage was no problem then told us he had a problem! Because the house took so long the appraisal had to be done over. It has been almost one year since we signed the contract with the builder and the broker and it looks like we might go to settlement this month. I am not holding my breath on this one.
Please before you sign with any builder check out his references and check some of the houses that he has built. Check the final trim work,,, look at corners of walls,,, check door frames. What we went through with our house would make a great Tom Hanks movie.

 

[Brandon]

Actually Chuckster, I my comment was directed at the guy who said that the various strip malls, including First Colony, and Callaway, were not needed. Now that those shopping centers are  there, the people can decide if they are necessary or not.

Government and the political process definitely tries to control what is developed in the community, as we have seen recently with the Zoning Laws in St. Mary's County.

 

[geekboy]

Well they sure aint doing a very good job of it.  If a little thought just went into the area there could be half of the traffic lights along 235 and they wouldnt have had to compensate for them by making the road wider than it needs to be.  

 

[Ken King]

Chuckster,

You can see on the maps contained within the UDC where the "proposed road" comes out at 249 (check the one for Callaway).  Unsure how it will come from Pegg's Road and across Indian Bridge Road as the other maps don't carry it all the way through.  But it does seem to be in the plan.  Will this reduce the load on the southern parts of Route 5 and the Great Mills intersection or just add more delay at the light in Callaway?

 

[chuckster]

GREAT MILLS ROADWAY ENHANCEMENTS PROJECT
A proposed multi-million dollar state highway project to install sidewalks, add partial medians, pedestrian crosswalks, and landscape features, and to resurface and installcurb and gutter along Great Mills Rd.
The project area is from235 to St Mary's Square. It ia also designed to consolidate commercial entrances, calm and control traffic movement, improve drainage, and improve handicapped and pedestrian along Great Mills Rd.
Meeting will be held Wednesday, March 27th, 4pm until 8pm in the Lexington Park Library.
I for one will be there to see this plan. Robin Finnacom has been doing a wonderful job with the Lexington Park Plan. It would be nice to see Lexington Park with a real Town Center atmosphere

(Edited by chuckster at 7:50 am on Mar. 13, 2002)

 

[mrs potts]

seasquirt on 9:33 am on Feb. 21, 2002[br]I get pretty P.O.'d when I see a new strip mall being built on 235 - there are so many vacancies in the strip malls that are already there! That new one with the eye care center and the Starbucks wasn't even necessary. And have you noticed that no new houses are being built in "First Colony" yet? No one wants to build a house there, because fewer and fewer people are buying property down here. With the volatile nature of all the contracting jobs, it's much easier to rent!

I agree!  No one wants to buy property that is going to be surrounded by a strip mall and other stores...besides, let's not even start of the Affordable Housing shortage in St. Mary's!  

 

[voter]

I just finished reading this entire thread and am amazed at how may people complain when the community grows.  You'd all complain if we stayed a one horse town too.

If you want to enjoy the scenery out your window BUY IT!

Growth gets a bad rap when it happens and when it doesn't.

Is it really hurting you personally if a store is empty or is it hurting your eyes.
If it's the latter then your pretty arrogant to think you know what looks better then I do.  Your only  fooling yourself into caring for something you have no control over, and complaining about something you have no control over is called "bitching"  so stop it.

 

[voter]

And I wish you all would stop including me in your posts.  Using "no one" "everybody" and "we all” indicates that the poster is speaking on my behalf.  That would not be an accurate statement and I have not given any county resident permission to include me in your dream of a perfect little world.

 

[Hessian]

Voter doesn't seem to care what is being developed or how crowded it has gotten or have too much concern over all the related problems of growth. I just can't bring myself to be that detached.

Someone mentioned rain...may I make a connection to development?
More pavement: less soil absorbtion...thus more run off...thus more erosion...thus more polluted streams and rivers...thus changed habitat.

Anybody remember the old 7th grade science lab experiment dealing with glasses of water and a variety of things dumped in them?
Sand....settled out quickly
Silt....clouded up the water...took day+ to settle
Oil...clumped up on the top
Detergent...water was clouded for over a week.

Now, think about every home using a minumum of 150 gallons of water per day: Both gray and waste being dumped together in leach fields.

Then remember that thousands of people in Southern Maryland still rely on shallow 30 foot dug wells. When we get hit with heavy rain...development has endangered the quality and balance of the ground water...will Developers dig new wells for these people or offer to pay for toxocology tests? Yeah right!

Do you know how much water is sitting in the sub-Chesapeake aquifer that we are drawing off of? Nobody knows...but I guarrentee that the more we build,
1) The lower it gets
2) Higher likelyhood of contamination
3) The more we will have to pay for filtration and sanitation plants.

Another glorious benefit of development.
Veritas.

 

[voter]

And don't dig too deep or you'll have oil in your soup!

there's an oil vein that goes from NC up through VA and underneath SMC and under the bay up to NJ.

Ask Texaco about it!

What about the related problems of non-growth.  You guys would be the same people out complaining and whining about that too.

Are you for no-growth?  because that is what your arguing for.

 

[chuckster]

What I am concerned about is the unrestricted growth or lack of a plan for the growth. Calvert/Prince Fredrick has a plan and follows through with it. The get involved with everything with all commercial buildings. A friend of mine was going to build a restaurant in Prince Fredrick a couple of years ago. The town planners even wanted to aprove the lights that were going to be on the outside of the building. Wendys had to cover their air conditioners so they couldn't be seen from the street. If the building was going to be in their town center district, it had to match the other building around it.
Growth is going to happen one way or the other. Can't we be smart about it?

 

[chuckster]

Another one bites the dust! I here that the book store on Great Mills Rd will be closing. They will be missed.

 

[Lilly]

What the one with the porno shop in the back?  I bet they will be missed!

Voter- While I would much prefer no growth to overgrowth I understand that it is going to happen.  I agree with Chuckster - controlled growth is okay as long as it stays that way.  It is when the dollar signs in greedy eyes get in front of what is best for the community that I get concerned.