Save Your Annapolis Neck
How do you feel about trading forest for traffic?
A Save Your Annapolis Neck representative spoke recently at an Oyster Harbor community meeting about the multitude of projects that are slated for the Annapolis Neck along Forest Drive and are currently in various stages of approval, appeals, and planning. These projects, including a proposed gas station at Giant Foods on Forest Drive, will have a SIGNIFICANT impact on the quality of life that we now enjoy in terms of increased traffic, overcrowded schools, loss of green space, and environmental damage. Why This Is Important Developers want to construct two huge projects on Forest Drive inside Annapolis city limits. Under current configuration, the city would allow the projects to ignore the state's 21-year-old Forest Conservation Act, under which the city has the authority to limit forest and wetland destruction. Further, the projects, the Reserve at Quiet Waters and Crystal Spring Farm, call for 681 residences and 200,000 sq. ft. of commercial space on 140 acres. Fully 61 percent of the two surviving forests in the city would be bulldozed. Forests allow us to maintain clean water, clean air and provide the critical habitat necessary for birds and other wildlife we want our children to experience growing up in Annapolis. These are the last forests on Forest Drive. Traffic on Forest Drive, already exceeding rush-hour capacity, would be slowed to a crawl. Overcrowded schools will become even more overcrowded. One of the projects will be so close to the border of Quiet Waters Park that it will cause permanent damage to the park's environment. The environmental community is rallying around an electronic petition to demonstrate opposition to the planned developments. This petition is sponsored by the Sierra Club Maryland--Anne Arundel Chapter, the Annapolis Neck Peninsula Federation, Save Your Annapolis Neck, and the Severn River Association.
Won't you consider adding your name to the petition and encouraging your friends to do the same?
Sign the Petition - Click Here Property owners may have a right to develop, but the city has a moral and legal obligation to enforce the laws and protect the environment. Make your voice heard. |