Residents Oppose Planned 19-Home Development on Maple Avenue

By Al Cunniff

CATONSVILLE, MD – Hundreds of residents who live on and around Maple Avenue in Catonsville are protesting a planned development that would create a 19-home subdivision at the end of the narrow, dead-end street, which is located off Frederick Road. The development would increase the number of houses on the 2,100 ft. long street by approximately 44%.

Residents recently participated in a six hour long Baltimore County development and Zoning hearing presided over by Administrative Law Judge Paul Mayhew. During the meeting, expert witnesses hired by Tri-Star Development testified that the nearly 200 additional vehicle trips that would result from the development would have no “consequential” effect on local traffic or safety.

Maple Avenue residents countered that assumption by presenting photo evidence of how narrow their street is, and video evidence of rush-hour backups on Frederick Road caused by current traffic. The evidence showed that Maple Avenue is only 15 ft. wide at its narrowest point, and that existing traffic loads on Frederick Road often make it impossible for vehicles exiting Maple Avenue to turn east or west, depending on whether it’s during morning and afternoon peak time.

Paper and online petitions that oppose the development have gathered more than 2,200 signatures from residents of Maple Avenue and the surrounding neighborhood. Petitioners are concerned that the added traffic would make the street much less safe. Maple Avenue has no sidewalks or curbs, so schoolchildren, pedestrians, pet walkers, and bicyclists who visit park grounds at the end of the street would need to share the street with nearly 200 additional cars, delivery vans and other vehicles each day.

Judge Mayhew is expected to make a decision on the project within the next few days.

The development protest has also been mentioned in the Baltimore Sun: https://www.baltimoresun.com/maryland/baltimore-county/catonsville/cng-co-ca-at-maple-avenue-plan-20210205-2sfnwwv3ezcmxocupfya6pcy5m-story.html