A lot of attention has been given to the so-called workforce housing bill that was passed in Anne Arundel County recently.
You’ll notice in the media coverage regarding the passage of the bill a common theme: wealthy horseman Steuart Pittman and his band of bobble heads on the County Council railroaded a bill through without listening to Republicans or the community at large.
The bill itself is not great news for the county. While some want to focus on alleged socioeconomic concerns, that’s not the issue at hand. The bill creates high-density housing, up to 22 units per acre with no height restrictions in mixed-used and industrial areas that have “direct access from a collector or higher classification road.”
The end result? More traffic congestion, more school overcrowding and more environmental impacts on our communities. It’s not a coincidence that a number of community groups opposed the bill. County Executive Pittman and Democratic council members seemed to not take that into consideration when railroading this bill through the council in order to once again make sure that Pittman’s union allies and special interest supporters get exactly what they ask for.
It’s as if when Pittman’s special interests supporters yell “Jump!” Pittman’s reaction is to ask “How high?”
The interesting thing about all of this is the fact that the end result of this new “workforce housing” is the fact that it ends up in even more development in Anne Arundel County. You may be thinking back to the election and say “Wait a minute, didn’t Steuart Pittman run opposed to new development?” And you would be right. After all, Pittman was endorsed by the League of Conservative Voters for his commitment to curb development.
In a Baltimore Sun questionnaire, Pittman responded: County Executive Schuh came into office with a pledge to spur growth. He did so with taxpayer-funded incentives and little regard for the development plan we had in place. The accelerated growth has stressed our schools, traffic flow, and county services.”
On his website, Pittman wrote regarding development that “The plan that we approve will shift priorities to infrastructure improvements, resource conservation, and community benefit.”
So Pittman, after running an entire campaign predicated on curbing development in the county, rammed through a workforce housing plan that expands development in the country.
Pittman’s broken promises are becoming a trend in his administration; don’t forget that the betrayal of his anti-development rhetoric comes on the heels of Pittman’s massive and historic tax increases that he said were not needed to fund his increased spending.
Ironically, the tax increases that Pittman and his bobble heads passed will make housing in the county less affordable, no matter what zoning laws are passed.
So what do we make of all of this? Well for one, Pittman is ushering in a new era of uncontrolled development in Anne Arundel County; just this time development will be high-density development that’s even worse for the environment and worse for traffic than the development that he supposedly ran against.
Of course Pittman won’t be faced with the consequences of this higher density development, environmental degradation, traffic, or strain on our county water or sewage system. After all, Pittman is a wealthy horseman who lives adjacent to the 550-acre Dodon Farm he inherited; it’s not like anybody is going to be building any high-density development in his neighborhood.
But it also shows us that Steuart Pittman doesn’t have campaign promises … at least not any that he intends to keep.
He betrayed voters on development. He betrayed voters on higher taxes. Which campaign promise will Pittman break next?
