In Bel Air, concerns over new apartments are justified | READER COMMENTARY
I found The Baltimore Sun’s recent editorial regarding a proposal for apartments as part of a mixed-use development in Bel Air somewhat confusing (“Some Bel Air residents fear their town could turn into Towson. That raises some questions.” Dec. 18). Apparently, The Sun feels that “luxury” apartments are “affordable housing.” And that the reason that teachers, police, firefighters and essential public employees would not live in an area is due to a lack of “affordable housing” and not that they aren’t paid enough to begin with for the important work they do. Apparently, in your view, anyone who opposes this type of high-density residential development does so only to keep lower-income residents out of their areas and not from an honest concern about inadequate infrastructure, schools and public facilities.
Why is it, in The Sun’s opinion, that the only good mixed-use development to replace aging malls and shopping centers contains apartment buildings? Would it not make more sense to develop single-family homes and townhomes that those teachers, police, firefighters and essential employees can invest in, build equity and build a future instead of paying rent to wealthy landlords? Wouldn’t increasing the available housing stock lead to more affordable options by driving competitive balance in the market?
Finally, though I am a longtime Towson resident, I sympathize with the fears of the folks in Bel Air. In Towson and the surrounding communities, every elementary school is at or overcapacity, roads are crumbling and traffic congestion can be an everyday issue. And yet, there are proposals on the table to add over 1,000 new apartment units in our community. Of course, Baltimore County does not have an adequate public facilities law in place to ensure that development can pay to address these quality of life issues.
Perhaps the residents of Bel Air aren’t wrong and The Sun should take a deeper dive into the issues around this type of development.
— Peter Moulder, Towson
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