City Stops Work On Scenic Manor
Havre de Grace has halted the housing project on Chapel Road.
Photos
Construction on Scenic Manor, the housing development underway along Chapel Road in Havre de Grace, has been halted by the city.
A sign posted at the site called for work to stop under a cease and desist order effective March 14, 2012. The sign noted that the city determined the project design is not compliant with Harford County's road code.
"The planning department is working pretty hard with the developers trying to come up with a reasonable solution," Havre de Grace spokesman John Van Gilder told Patch Wednesday afternoon.
As Patch reported in December, 84 homes were approved for the project.
The project is proposed over 29 acres, across Chapel Road from Bulle Rock.
In a comment on that post, City Councilman Jim Miller wrote, "This development was approved about the same time as Bulle Rock. The original approval was for townhomes. The city’s Planning Committee negotiated for the single family homes."
Miller called for a closed session following Monday's council meeting to discuss legal issues regarding roads. Miller was unable to comment Wednesday on the closed session, but told Patch the project was shut down before the meeting.
For plat plans of the project, check out this Patch post from December.
In This article
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Havre de Grace City Hall
711 Pennington Ave, Havre de Grace, MD -
Residences at Bulle Rock
1200 Bulle Rock Pkwy, Havre de Grace, MD -
Denise Buchanan
5:40 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
I wondered why when I drove past there earlier no one was there. It's a shame they should have just left it the way it was anyway. We have enough developments in HdeG. It's sad to see that whole area now.
Brent
5:45 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
I'm gonna take a wild guess and it has to do with the road width. In just about every development built in the city after The Woods at Bayview, the streets are narrow enough that there isn't realistically enough room to permit two-way traffic with parking on both sides of the street. It's a noticeable and hazardous problem navigating through Grace Manor. But Bulle Rock, Havre de Hills, and Greenway Farm also exhibit this problem too, although two of the three do restrict street-side parking.
James Barry
7:21 am on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Brent. All those involved in the approval of this project, like many others, have access to the road design at the time of project approval. Was there a change of heart by the city or an unapproved change by the developer? Does anyone know?
itiswhatitis
8:01 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
Did we really need more houses anyway? My kids and I were upset to see all the trees that had been cut down in that area. They were at least hoping for something to be built there that would benefit the kids in Havre de Grace.
Carol
8:13 pm on Friday, March 23, 2012
Isn't that the truth. We need something in Our little city for our children and young adults to do except sit at the bars, we have nothing! If they want to do something they have to go out of town ot out of State.
Kareem N Mikoffee
11:40 pm on Friday, March 23, 2012
I love the comments about new housing killing trees and nothing for the kids, etc. etc. I seem to remember that all the areas that are part of Bulle Rock, the stretch of housing all along Chapel Road and even the area around Lilly Run behind Otsego St. were once covered by trees, cornfields and apple trees. Many of the biggest complainers of "new" development happen to be those who bought homes in areas that were heavily wooded with a lot of wildlife and clean creeks. The rest of you HdeG natives could have purchased all these areas years ago for almost nothing and I'm sure when all those millions of dollars of developers' money were thrown at you, you would have built parks and petting zoos for the children instead. I can't wait to see what socialistic ideas get implemented in our town if a block of know it all Bulle Rock residents get elected in May.
Hollee Sifford
11:43 pm on Wednesday, March 21, 2012
More homes =more kids=more students...Better get bigger schools
Carol
4:45 pm on Friday, March 30, 2012
Kareem,
All along Rt 155 were farms then I-95 bought out some of the farmers to build I-95 we use to have the Apple Orchard on Chapel Road. There could have been lots of things built for our children and brought in money for the town but now look at it. Our children have grown up and some are grandparents themselves still nothing in this town for them to do except eat and drink unless they go some where else to enjoy themselves. Well of course some of them have moved to other towns or out of state.
James Barry
7:24 am on Tuesday, April 3, 2012
While you may not like the development, who is going to pay for the very expensive water and sewer fees we have here in HDG. New development provides a tax base and if you do the math it is easy to see why these projects are approved as they do bring on current and future tax base expansion which could pay for many things in HDG. So where does the money go? Election year is a good time to raise these questions.