Back in July, I was optimistic when for the first time, the developers of the Village at Providence Point finally agreed to meet with leaders of the opposition to the project. This meeting was agreed to only after city Planning and Zoning officials pressed the developers to meet with us.

We also met in September, and the nearly five hours of meetings were designed to hear details of the development plans and allow us to present our concerns about the project.

We presented four major areas needing to be addressed and were hopeful that efforts would be made to reconcile them before new plans were filed. None of these issues were new and most all were compelled by law, developer’s pledges made previously, or the 2005 annexation agreement making the property part of the city of Annapolis.

The four items were:

• Forest clearing be reduced from 30 acres and 100 percent be replanted on site;
• No increase in stormwater or pollutants flowing from the site for a 20-year storm;
• A comprehensive conservation easement that extinguishes all development rights besides the 351 senior units and protects remaining forest; and
• Traffic improvements include the construction of a long-planned relief road connecting the site to Skipper Lane and access to the CVS, Safeway, and other retail stores.

On Jan. 22, the developers filed their plans and — shockingly — not one of our issues was addressed! The only change was to lower the replanting for forests destroyed to zero. This was despite the city’s enactment of a no net loss of forest law last year that requires 100 percent replanting.

We were all shocked and feel betrayed at the filings and consider them an act of arrogance in totally disregarding the community’s reasonable requests. Now, the battle must continue indefinitely into the future.

NANCY PLAXICO, ANNAPOLIS

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