Question Remain - Four Seasons April 2001

News Our say: As Kent Island project gets first OK, questions remain
By THE CAPITAL EDITORIAL BOARD

TECHNICALLY, LAST week's decision by the Queen Anne's County commissioners was just preliminary approval of the 1,350-home Four Seasons project on Kent Island.

Actually, we think it means the project in some form is likely to go through -- unless the developer, K. Hovnanian Cos., becomes pigheaded about the conditions tacked on by the commissioners. And Hovnanian so far has been shrewd about dealing with local officials and opposition.

The commissioners have set 34 conditions, most of them reflecting the deluge of comments they received about the project and concerns about its environmental impact on sensitive land on bay tributaries.

Among other things, the developers are being asked to dedicate another 27.5 acres of parkland for the use of all county residents and visitors, cluster their development and open more space in the interior of the project, and increase the buffer along the Chester River from an average of 100 feet to more than 150 feet.

The developer is also being asked to put back in its plans the 80-bed assisted-living facility it dropped last fall (along with a 95,000-square-foot shopping center, rental apartments and roughly 150 homes) in order to mollify the community. Residents believe the assisted-living home will provide more living space while creating less traffic.

We give the commissioners credit for listening to residents, and Hovnanian credit for flexibility in meeting local objections.

Also, we admit that Four Seasons will do less harm than it would if the commissioners were to allow 1,350 homes of miscellaneous development on the island. For one thing, it's an over-55 development, and so will have little impact on the area's overburdened schools. For another, Hovnanian has deep pockets and extensive experience building similar projects in New Jersey.

For all that, the fact remains that this is a huge project and will forever change the character of Kent Island. It's an irreversible step toward intensive growth, and will have a major environmental impact, not to mention the impact on utilities and on the amount of traffic dumped onto the overloaded Castle Marina Road and funneled onto Route 50.

County officials say Kent Island has been targeted for intensive growth all along, and the important thing is to manage it properly. It looks as though, with Four Seasons, Kent Island residents will see whether such management is possible. Anyone who has spent time watching similar developments go forward in Anne Arundel County has a right to be skeptical.

If Queen Anne's officials go ahead with Four Seasons -- as seems increasingly likely -- they should at least put a hold on further development on Kent Island until they've gotten a good look at what this one does to the community and the environment, and have assimilated its lessons.

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