Ed Waters, a long time writer for the , has written a front page piece in today’s paper that has captured a very clear picture of the difficulty placed on the building community in Frederick County.
We discussed this back in May in many posts regarding what we see as a flaw in the county’s Comprehensive Planning process.
We do not dispute the number homes needed to meet the adopted plan — it actually could be too high, but in any event we don’t know where the lots are going to come from.
Some of our current and hopeful County Commissioners continue to put their head in the sand over this matter, blaming the industry’s complaints on the economy. What is really going on is that they continue to use the building and development community as a whipping boy to move a flawed political agenda. The fact is that serious problems in the lack of approved lots and very expensive regulations have — even in this economy — put a burden on the industry that makes it very difficult to just build an affordable house.
While land prices have suffered miserably in the current economic climate, it is very likely that they will eventually soar due to a extreme lack of supply once a recovery regains its footings. While good for land owners, it is not good for housing affordability in Frederick County, as it will push more an more people out of the county … which will congest our roads, etcetera, etcetera!
Please take the time to read.