ESLC comments on Ewing Farm at QAC Planning Commission Meeting

Last Thursday, October 10, 2024, Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) commented at the Queen Anne’s County Planning Commission meeting on the Aspire development in Grasonville. While ESLC supports local governments following their Comprehensive Plans and promoting growth in designated areas, developments like Aspire offer a low return on investment typical of low-density projects.

This year, ESLC acquired data with the help of the firm Urban3 on eight Eastern Shore counties. Using GIS mapping and data from the Maryland Department of Assessment and Taxation, the analysis compared public investment in infrastructure and services with property tax revenues. This data highlights the varying value of land use investments for local governments in both rural and urban settings. The findings show that housing developments with mostly single-family detached housing, wide roads, and large amounts of parking, yield the lowest return on investment for local governments.

This issue is critical as Maryland and the Eastern Shore face both a housing crisis, and insufficient funds for infrastructure maintenance and transportation. Maryland Department of Transportation Secretary Weidenfeld spoke this week at the Queen Anne’s County Commissioners meeting and laid out the financial reality of the state. Last year the Capital program required a 3.3-billion-dollar reduction. Looking ahead, as Secretary Weidenfeld stated, “We continue to face some significant headwinds and budget challenges.”

Looking at the data, it is glaring to see the contrast between what we used to build before the first Bay Bridge was built in 1952 and since. Our communities used to build more value on less land. Today, we build less value on more land. This has a catch-22 effect; our density is so low in most areas that we have no financing for public transportation which leads to our roads becoming congested, especially in areas like Route 18 in Grasonville. When we try to add more housing, traffic and school capacity are the primary concerns. In many cases, we end up with very low-density developments to minimize traffic, which only leads to less value and fewer resources for our local governments to provide services.

As a region and as a state, we must solve this conflict. We must be mindful of our decisions to build sustainable, resilient, walkable, and connected communities. Our dependency on cars is a result of our land use policies and can only be mitigated through thoughtful land use decisions.

ESLC is making Urban3’s data available to all local governments on the Eastern Shore. Our vision is for it to serve as a tool for local governments to understand better their return on investment for each development and redevelopment project.