By Gary Bennett
This article appears in the February 2, 2023, issue of The Fredrick News-Post
Did anyone else scratch their head when reading the story with the headline “District 5 residents ask not to be ignored” (The Frederick News-Post, Jan. 30)?
It came a few days after Thurmont residents voted in a referendum to disallow the annexation of 16.7 acres of county land in order to stop a high-density development that would have brought in over $1 million in tax revenue?
Residents from the northern part of the county made their conflicting feelings known at a District 5 town hall held by the new county executive just a few days after the referendum.
They say they often feel left out so they came with a laundry list of spending wishes including repairs and upgrades to roads, new parks and trails, help for emergency services, and more affordable housing for seniors—the very things this nixed high-density development would have aided.
Of course, District 5 includes more than just Thurmont, but one has to wonder if these folks wish to have their cake and eat it, too.
The kicker came when one resident said “the referendum came to a vote because the people of Thurmont want an opportunity to have a development that fits in with their small town atmosphere, not rows of townhouses that looks like Frederick City.”
As a proud resident of Frederick City, I hope the person I quoted does not partake of our many fine restaurants, theaters, cultural activities, parks or trails—all those things that a higher-density tax base allows—because if they do, they have shown their true “not in my backyard” colors.
Perhaps it is time Frederick County adopt a “fair share” law in affordable housing that is now gaining traction in other states and jurisdictions—an approach that assigns each town a certain number of units to plan and zone for, based on the needs of the region and the wealth of the town in question. The towns would then share the responsibility for that need.
Thurmont, I hate to break this to you, but your working-age children and your aging parents simply can’t afford to live in your single-family town and will most likely move to a townhouse in Frederick.