On May 26th The Observer published “Pleasants Development Holds Public Charrette in Mount Airy – May 2023“. This was information from (a PR firm) for the developer about the “Mount Airy Beck Property”.
After posting this information to the community I shared it on social media asking for feedback from community members that attended the recent Public Charrette sessions.
Here are some of the comments from the community that I have seen:
- I attended Monday’s charrette. I was struck by how the developer talked at us, not permitting any feedback during his “speech” to refute his “facts”.
I also felt as though we were having this whole project shoved down our throats. I feel as though this whole thing should go back to the drawing board for a vote because in my opinion the public does not want this to happen at all. We do not need to be a gateway to the next Mount airy further up 27. Regardless of what they call facts, water is a major concern as is traffic. Center Street should not be allowed to be connected. Main St will be a nightmare.
Thumbs down.- agree 100%. I was there Monday and Tuesday. They did not take public questions, and crafted each one of their table questions with embedded assumptions giving the illusion of choice. It was no more than a glorified sales pitch. When I questioned Mr. Wagner about density and misrepresentation of the “harmonious” sized lots on the Beck West plan he was dismissive and condescending.
- sales pitch,,makes you wonder why the town has zero standards to meet, we have a lack of planning commission that does absolutely nothing except dole out free passes and exceptions and lower the ones we did have through the apfo
- Pleasants completely missed the mark. According to the National Charrette Institute, trust must be established between all stake holders. Inaccurate statistics, rudeness to residents, refusal to discuss infrastructure inadequacies all contributed to the complete failure of the “Charrette.” Their revisions show they are intent on making a profit versus working together to create a better Mount Airy, MD.
- Unfortunately this charrette was neither transparent nor collaborative. It was another Pleasants sales pitch. Questions from Mt Airy residents were not welcomed and therefore many were abruptly not answered. Truths listed in the presentation were not substantiated with facts nor data and were indeed not truths. Pleasants ended the charrette stating, any changes made must be “financially feasible”. Not what is best for the town of Mt Airy. The overall impact of the 582 dwellings will have on traffic on 27/Main Street-if Center St becomes a throughput, well water supply, emergency needs/local hospitals with specific data/numbers were not presented. This high density development is not welcomed nor supported by the residents of Mt Airy.
If additional comments are sent to or seen by The Observer they will be added above in this article. Send you comments to news@carrollcountyobserver.com
Take My Podcast Please recently (May 26th) conducted an interview with Nicole Moon and Sean Kelly with the Mt. Airy CAMO group. They talked about the charrettes and more. You can listen to the podcast below:
