According to The Baltimore Sun, homeowners in the Lawyers Hill area of Elkridge, Maryland which is just west of BWI airport are opposing a 17-home subdivision being planned by local developer Don Reuwer. Elkridge is a nationally recognized historic district and the developer would like to add single-family homes priced between $700,000 and $900,000.
At last week’s meeting the commission received testimony from more than a dozen residents — all of them expressing concern or opposition to the development proposal.
“A cookie cutter subdivision in the middle of a historic district just does not belong,” said Cathy Hudson, whose property sits next to the site. “If we are serious about historic districts, then we need to protect them.” Reuwer contends the property where he wants to build should not be part of the historic district.
The district was formed in 1994 at the request of property owners in the area, according to documents he submitted to the commission. At the time, it was not the intention of the county to include owners “who expressed a desire to not be within the local historic zoning district,” according to a 1993 technical staff report submitted by then-director of Department of Planning and Zoning Joseph Rutter — now Reuwer’s business partner.
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