Walter Vasquez’s letter (The Capital, Jan. 5) castigates those of us suffering each day from the city’s poor growth management. The city has been irresponsible in annexing large tracts of undeveloped land from the county for dense development when we don’t have the infrastructure to support it.

Mr. Vasquez seems to supports all developments, including Crystal Spring, for some unspecific reason other than, perhaps, an unspecified relationship with the developers. The Crystal Spring project would take down 40 acres of forest to build nearly 500 homes, a shopping center and a hotel when nearby roads are clogged and dangerous to drive. By whose standard is that considered responsible development?

The 2009 City Comprehensive Plan outlines standards for how much Annapolis should grow, how and where. These guidelines allow growth while still protecting the quality of life for current residents based on traffic, the environment and other parameters. State law requires that the city’s planning regulations be consistent with the comprehensive plan, yet the plan is often ignored.

For instance, the comprehensive plan mandated that the city come up with new regulations to evaluate traffic impacts from new developments. This was considered a priority item and was supposed to be in place by 2012. These new regulations still don’t exist. This is one of several examples of the city looking the other way and ignoring its own requirements for approving developments.

The city should look to redevelopment of existing lagging areas, not stripping forests and increasing stormwater pollution while adding excessive traffic.

FRED GREGORY, ANNAPOLIS

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