Four Seasons is the housing development planned by K. Hovnanian Companies of Maryland for a 562-acre site in the Chester and Stevensville areas north of U.S. Route 50. The project would have about 1,350 homes, including single-family homes and condominiums. At least one primary occupant of a home would have to be 55 or older. No one under 18 could live at Four Seasons. 

KIDL and other opponents of the Four Seasons plan argue the project would damage streams, shorelines, woods and wetlands; harm wildlife; burden local roads and cause traffic congestion; put a strain on public water and sewer services; and put too much demand on police, firefighters and emergency service providers. 

Advocates of the project argue the new community would bring new customers to local businesses; provide more volunteers for local organizations; and allow older Queen Anne's residents to continue to live in the county. Project advocates have said the property would be developed by a single developer instead of in a piecemeal manner by several developers, and that an age restricted community would not add students to the public school system.

The review and approval process for the Four Seasons development plan involves many steps, including the granting of growth allocation - a process which allows more intense development under Maryland's Critical Area law, which passed the state legislature in 1984. Land within 1,000 feet of the tidal waters of the Chesapeake Bay is considered the critical area. The critical area provide three land use designations: Resource Conservation Area (RCA), which allows a maximum of 1 home per 20 acres; Limited Development Area (LDA); and Intense Development Area (IDA). 

Queen Anne's County submitted a petition to the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission asking that growth allocation be approved for 372.5 acres of the Four Seasons development site. Hovnanian is asking that 293 acres be converted from RCA to IDA, and that another 79.5 acres be switched from LDA to IDA. 

In December 2000, the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission approved the growth allocation petition if Hovnanian met 10 conditions that deal with forest, stream and shoreline buffers, a community pier; erosion control, shoreline access, and stormwater management. In April 2001, the Queen Anne's County Commissioners also granted conditional approval of the growth allocation if Hovnanian complied with 24 more conditions as well as the 10 conditions set by the state critical area commission.

Because the conditions attached by the county were considered significant, the county ordinance required the growth allocation request to be resubmitted to the state critical area commission, which again gave its conditional approval on July 11, 2001.

KIDL's petition for judicial review asked the circuit court to review the July 11 decision of the state critical area commission and the April decision by the Queen Anne's County Commissioners. Attorney Richard S. O'Connor of Rockville is representing KIDL, Foley and Donovan.

The petition seeking the writ of mandamus was filed in the event there is no provision for a judicial review of the state and county decisions approving the growth allocation. 

In its petition for writ of mandamus, KIDL states approval of the growth allocation for Four Seasons "was procedurally flawed and did not meet the requirements of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area law and regulations." The petition states the approved growth allocation "fails to incorporate the requirements of cluster development to reduce impervious surface and to maximize areas of natural vegetation into the final design of the project."

The growth allocation will result in newly created IDAs that are not adjacent to existing IDAs, said the petition, and that would violate the "legislative intent and procedures" of the state critical area law. 

The KIDL petition asks the court to find the state critical area commission's decision to grant growth allocation for Four Season was not consistent with applicable state laws and procedures and that the action taken by the critical area commission was "arbitrary and capricious."

KIDL has asked the court to sign an order stating the decisions by the state critical area commission and Queen Anne's County Commissioners are subject to judicial review by the circuit court. The KIDL petition also asked the court to reverse the decision of the state critical area commission or, in the alternative, to order the critical area commission to review the Queen Anne's County Commissions' approval of the growth allocation as an amendment to the critical area program and require the Four Seasons project to comply with state regulations for growth allocation approval.

©The Star Democrat 2001 
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Note from KIDL postmistress:
With all these new customers we are sure to attract big-box stores which will take away the small businesses' customers . . . with all the new residents we're going to NEED more volunteers just to stay afloat . . . the only older residents who will be able to continue to live in QAC are the ones who can afford the Four Seasons' rumored $300,000+/- and up price tag plus the monthly fees it'll take to run the place!