Brunswick considering second annexation as part of age-restricted development
The Brunswick City Council on Tuesday considered annexing more land as part of a proposed age-restricted housing development.
In 2008, the city annexed 126.21 acres bounded on three sides by the Galyn Manor development, Brunswick High School and Souder Road, according to city documents.
Tom Natelli, the developer, said a second annexation would add 23.98 acres of adjacent land to the undeveloped project.
Both parcels are considered part of the Cooper property.
If the additional annexation is approved, the developers would look to build 500 units for residents age 55 and older, according to the documents. Natelli said they would develop a range of housing options and price points.
He said the need for single-level living for an aging population can be tricky.
"In the case of any condo product, you actually need to go with elevators, which becomes very expensive," Natelli told the council. "I can't guarantee I can make it happen at this point, but we're going to work with the town and to the extent we can reasonably do it, we'll try to do it."
"If we can't do it, we'll come back and look at alternatives with you," he said.
Given the age restrictions, the project would not need to consider school impact on the area.
The project would add walking trails that connect with ones in Galyn Manor and add a sidewalk to the north side of Souder Road.
"There's a lot that I see here that I like," Council Member John Caves said at the meeting.
He said he appreciated that the land would be nestled between existing developments, avoiding sprawl. Caves also said he appreciated the infrastructure improvements and added sidewalk.
Caves said "it's not happening in a vacuum" and questioned if the age-restricted project would have a "demographic impact" in conjunction with the proposed Vista Pointe project.
Vista Point is a 660-unit, age-restricted development that would require annexing 184.5 acres to the west side of the city.
The current median age of Brunswick is 36.1 years old, which is lower than the state average of 39.8, according to census data. Also, 15% of residents fall into the 60-plus age bracket.
Bruce Dell, the director of planning and zoning for the city of Brunswick, said during the public hearing that the two age-restricted housing projects could take the 60-and-older share of the population in Brunswick to over 30%. He described 30% as "typical" for Maryland.
"We find that parents are coming here because their kids already live here and they want to be closer to their grandkids," Dell said.
He described the age-restricted housing as having a "twofold" economic impact on existing Brunswick residents who meet age requirements.
"We have [an] aging population that's already here that will move there because they can have something that's on the first floor [so] they can better get around," Dell said. "And their kids will come and populate other areas of town."
Dell added that aging populations would have less impact per housing unit on public resources like sewage treatment and water. He said retired residents have more time to devote to community activities in town.
"We're going to increase our older population pretty significantly with both of these developments," Council Member Daniel Yochelson said. "That's also not just going to put a strain obviously on public works because there's much more to maintain, but also our emergency services."
Council Member Eric Smothers, past president of the Maryland State Firemen's Association (now the Maryland State Firefighters Association), said the volume response can increase by 200 to 300 calls per year per age-restricted development. He said the current overall call volume in Brunswick is "about 2,100 calls per year."
"So, yes, that is going to stress the system," Smothers said.
He added that the city might need to add ambulances and make additional investments in fire and rescue response to accommodate the two proposed age-restricted developments.
The plan will go before the Brunswick Planning Commission on Oct. 28.
