Oxford Square Housing Development Comes to Halt

A housing development on Coca Cola Drive that included an elementary school in its initial plan is on hold because it failed what the Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning calls “the schools test.”

Oxford Square, a 120-acre site on Coca Cola at Park Circle Drive, was slated to include 954 residential units, more than 600,000 feet of retail and office space and a 20-acre elementary school site.

But plans for the school were derailed by the going in nearby. As a result, school board members stalled on voting to move forward with the Oxford Square school and have since .

“If they get Ducketts Lane figured out and Ducketts Lane is in the capital project budget…there’s a very good chance that the middle schools would still [be overcrowded],” said Jeffrey Bronow, chief of research for Howard County’s Department of Planning and Zoning. 

Any residential development has to pass a series of tests to ensure that infrastructure is in place to support people who will live there, he explained. As outlined by the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO), if there aren’t adequate schools, roads and utilities, the county cannot approve further development. 

The schools test uses a formula to determine whether a region, elementary schools and middle schools can support additional students who would come with more housing. 

“Oxford Square failed for elementary and middle schools because both ] and are closed,” said Bronow. “So Oxford Square’s development is on hold right now because schools are projected to be crowded.” 

But projects won’t be put off indefinitely. “They can be on hold for up to four years,” said Bronow. “If after four years, schools are still closed, then they can proceed no matter what.”

Usually, Bronow said, it doesn’t come to that. “Very rarely” have developers had to wait four years to proceed, according to Bronow. The last time that happened was 2006 or 2007, he added.

“Maybe a handful of plans in the western part of the county had reached that limit…There probably haven’t been more than half a dozen plans that have reached that stage, and APFO has been in effect since 1992. Generally, a new school is built or redistricting happens,” said Bronow.

Redistricting plans are currently up for review through the next year.

There is still a possibility that the school board might turn its attention back to Oxford Square and the school proposed there; and in that case, development can proceed on the school site itself. 

“The school parcel is still within the boundaries of the project,” said David Boellner, land development planner for Howard County's Department of Planning and Zoning, and the man who signed off on sketch plans submitted at the end of July. “They could bring a final plan in for road construction to access the school and also to access commercial portions of the property. But the residential [part] won’t be moving forward anytime soon.”

Some plans are brewing, according to the development team. On Monday, Aug. 8, the company leading the Oxford Square project—Kellogg CCP LLC—alerted the Department of Planning and Zoning that it would hold a community meeting to discuss a zoning amendment.

“It’s about the density,” said Michael Vitucci, of Fisher, Collins & Carter, the Ellicott City engineering firm working on Oxford Square. 

The will be Aug. 30 at 6:30 p.m. in the .