Posted by Phil Lee (208.19.133.132) on May 30, 2001 at 17:33 from An unsigned letter at
http://www.citizens-prevail.org/archives/9.html:
This is Smart?
We urge you to check out the designated "Smart Growth" areas as outlined on a map of Allegany County on a state of Maryland website, http://www.op.state.md.us/smartgrowth/smartpfa.htm. The Smart Growth idea is to confine development to areas that already have infrastructure in place - water and sewer lines, sufficient roadways, etc. The program is one of the hallmarks of Governor Parris Glendening's two terms in office.
In Allegany County, the map indicates that the regions designated for Smart Growth funding include Cumberland, Frostburg and Route 220. These areas make sense - development has already taken place there, so building from that ties into the Smart Growth concept.
However, on the map one very small Smart Growth dot sits at the far eastern end of the county, right along the Potomac River, in an area that has seen no development whatsoever. No town to speak of, just a few residential pockets and lots and lots of farmland and forests. The area at that end of the county designated as a Smart Growth site? Little Orleans, potential location of the Rickman horse racing track being touted not-so-subtly by Cas Taylor, Speaker of the Maryland House of Delegates.
Little Orleans has no infrastructure to speak of - no water lines, no sewer lines, only what is termed "tar and chip" country lanes. And why would they? Little Orleans is as rural as rural gets. There's a general store and bar, a camp ground, and that's about it. So just how did Little Orleans qualify for Governor Parris Glendening's program? And who influenced that decision?
Interesting that Rickman, the wealthy Delaware race track owner vying to obtain a Maryland Horse Racing License, wants to build his new Maryland track in a location with no water and sewer lines and a very poor water table.
Mr. Rickman claims he's going to run his facility with ponds and well water. Too bad Little Orleans has such serious water problems that running such a facility from the existing water table would likely suck the entire area dry. But if Mr. Rickman could get some infrastructure in there - paid for by the state (that means you, taxpayer) - his life would be so much rosier.
Plus, Little Orleans would be ripe for the development that typically follows the construction of such a facility - hotels, motels, restaurants, souvenir shops, etc. And wouldn't that be peachy for a few land owners hoping to sell out and make a killing? Wouldn't do much for the rest of the county - or even the majority of Little Orleans residents living there for its quiet beauty, who oppose the track - but what's that got to do with it?
The only dilemma: how to get that infrastructure laid. Under the Smart Growth initiative, one of the exceptions on the moratorium for laying new infrastructure is the construction of new schools. Mr. Cas Taylor, who worked feverishly to stop the consolidation of our county schools even though he was clearly overstepping his role as a delegate (yo! Cas - you're in the General Assembly, not on the school board), spoke openly of creating "geographically balanced educational complexes." You get it - educational complex in the east, one in the middle and one in the west.
Mr. Taylor never did say just where he wanted his eastern educational complex to be located.
But darn if the State Board of Education didn't derail the whole plan by approving the consolidation of Allegany County Schools, silencing - for the moment - all discussion of an eastern educational complex, a complex that would have required the daily busing of approximately 1,000 students from the county's populated regions.
So now what? Well if the track is built in Little Orleans - with well water and ponds - any additional development will occur in nearby Washington County, where they have infrastructure. So Hancock will see a boom of sorts, and Allegany County will see not much of anything.
After all, who is going to drive 30 miles past their destination to stay at a hotel or eat at a restaurant in Cumberland, LaVale or Frostburg? No one with a sense of direction or a map. And all along we thought this track was supposed to boost economic development in ALLEGANY County. Silly us.