Walter Vasquez’s complaint that businesses will stop coming to Annapolis (The Sunday Capital, June 11) reminds me of Yogi Berra’s purported assessment of a popular restaurant: “It is so crowded that no one goes there anymore.”

Mr. Vasquez’s primary complaint is that the mayor and city officials are actually listening to city and nearby county residents about the horrendous impact Crystal Spring and other proposed developments in the city will have on traffic, the environment and our quality of life. This is no “politically driven side step” — this is the way the public and its elected officials must interact in order to find solutions that benefit the most residents.

The Village at Providence Point is still much too big, still would decimate far too many acres of priority forest and still would further pollute tributaries to the Chesapeake Bay. And if Providence Point is ever built, there is no assurance that the rest of the original Crystal Spring development won’t be built in future years.

The 445 units planned now at Providence Point would dump another 500 cars on the already-failing Forest Drive-Bay Ridge road corridors — roadways so dangerously congested that current and new business owners are reluctant to expand or locate there, current residents are moving away or considering doing so and prospective new residents are dissuaded from even thinking about moving along the corridor. This not only adversely affects the pace and quality of our lives, but also the value of our properties.

Opposition to these projects is not anti-business; it is pro-quality of life.

The planning and zoning director and his top planners should be commended for their thoroughness in reviewing the development proposals to assure compliance with the laws and for valuing public input. Let’s bring sanity to the development process.

JOHN FRECE, ANNAPOLIS

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