That's the end of that I guess. While better than 45 foot high apartments it's still a crying shame that our neighborhood will lose the final thing that makes it just a bit nicer than everything else around here just so more and more people can move in for some density agenda I still can't understand. I am saddened by the news and hope all those involved are happy with themselves and don't end up complaining about this in a few years (but alas, you will). My wife and I decided after hearing this news that this is the end of what has been a very disappointing decade of life in Montgomery...er ... Howard ... County MD. You guys enjoy yourselves, we're done with you. Doug Duncan would be proud of the way an entire region could be stripped of it's identity and laid to waste in such a short period of time. A little harsh? Kinda, but I suppose I'm bitter because I didn't get one of those free Kindles a couple years ago and instead have just sucked up and dealt with the thousands of dollars of damage to my land property and automobiles from all this "development" I've had to continually endure.

Thank you Elizabeth for all the news/info/posts, I would have never even known about this web site if not for the flyer that appeared in my mailbox months ago about this particular final travesty to the area I fell so in love with a decade ago and have painfully watched decline into exactly the same area I moved away from (Montgomery County) to begin with... :(

How do these people pat themselves on the back and keep a straight face? It was their neglect and incompetence which put the people in Elkridge in this mess to start with. Now what about the other 10 thousand chikdren coming to the route 1 corridor, where are the schools for them? There has to be accountability, fire Mr.Cousin. Ask French to resign, get rid of Caplin's spin office and see how Mr. Roey does without having to muck the stalls.

Jack

Crap, time to move . . . Sarasota, Florida here I come!

The real question about this that has never made any sense to me is that the County sold the property for $827,000 at the TOP OF THE MARKET and now bought it back at the BOTTOM OF THE MARKET for $2.64 million. Either the property was sold well below market value or was purchased well above market value. Either way, this $1.8 million + difference is pure waste that has enriched a developer at the expense of the taxpayer.

I'll be sure to continually send in photos and video of traffic jam we will all sit in to get out of our neighborhood when there are 20 buses trying to turn left onto Route 1. The planning board is A BUNCH OF IDIOTS!!! I hope your neighborhood becomes as congested as you have made ours... if you are an elected official... enjoy the remainder of your term, Elkridge residents are fed up and will vote you out, so go ahead and pat yourselves on the back, you have just become unemployed- YAY! Leave Elkridge alone... go build something in Ellicott City, Columbia or elsewhere, you have already ruined our community, now off to ruin the next. The County should not be allowed to build any more homes until they have room in existing schools for the children all of the homes will bring...Idiots, Idiots, Idiots... no shortage of them in Howard County! Thanks for making me want to move out of a neighborhood I have resided in for over 20 years, job well done- Idiots!!!

If you are concerned about residential development proceeding in Elkridge, contact the County Council. The members have not yet voted on legislation that would open the Route 1 corridor for development but it could be up for a vote as early as Monday, Feb. 6. Here is the council members' contact info: http://cc.howardcountymd.gov/Departments.aspx?Id=4294968799

I am actually really looking forward to this development and I live directly next to where the school will be built. The other schools are beyond overcrowded and the "green" ideas that come with this school has be excited. ALso the fact that we will get to leave only minute before school starts to walk across the street.
The ONLY thing that makes me nervous is that I assumed that they would put a light in at rt 1 and Ducketts. That makes me upset and I plan on fighting that! We need a light....BEFORE this school is being built....but even more so now.

The light MAY come into play but it is not the County's responsibility. It would be adjusting traffic flow on Rt. 1 which is a STATE highway.

As for the County Council, sitting here writing your feelings or your neighbors feelings about this project (especially if they are negative or against the project) will get you nothing. Negative Comments need to be made FACE TO FACE with the county leaders so they can see that it is really having ill effect on people and not just names or initials on the internet.

As for the school acquisition, well take that up with the leadsers of our Board of Education and the elected school board. They are the ones making idiotic purchases such as buying land that is locked with liens etc, or accepting land and wasting moinies on developing a school next to a proposed trucking site.

As a resident of the neighborhood, I knew that something would be built here and this is probably the least of all the evils. Elkridge - please understand the real issue about this school. The County administration wanted a school to be in place so that they can open up the northeastern part of Howard County to development. This affects every person in Elkridge, not just those of Ducketts Lane. This continues to be a big circle - build the houses, overcrowd the schools, build more schools so that we can build more houses. The developers in the end get what they want and the residents who pay the taxes are left to deal with the aftermath.

They could open this school tomorrow and we will still face overcrowding. It will relieve Bellows Springs, Elkridge Elementary and Rockburn....They will still need another elementary school somewhere in the central East area of the county; be it Jessup,or Elkridge.

To play devil's advocated-- think of all the extra jobs this will bring to our little neck of the woods-- construction, teaching, administration....

I agree but they probably will not be much in way of helping locals as they generally use the low bid contractor and they generally aren't from around here.

To be honest, if the pension system has to be absorbed here it leaves a 16.2 million dollar deficit in the school boards budget this year; so I don't have my breath held for any new construction.