Drees annexation request
ready to continue
By James Rada Jr.
News Editor
THURMONT,
Md. – The Thurmont Commissioners last heard from Drees
Homes in December when the company asked that its annexation
request for property south of Thurmont be tabled. Since then,
Stuart Terl has been brainstorming with others about how to
best make the request a reality, having on-site studies conducted
and watching the progression of discussions about other annexation
requests.
Now Drees is ready to reactivate its request to have 113.6
acres near the new Weis Market annexed into the town.
“We’ve
been tweaking the proposal as we perform our studies on site,”
said Terl, division president with Drees Homes, “We’re
making sure everything is buildable.”
One issue that
has been raised about the project is the wet soils on the
property, which is one of the studies being conducted.
“There
may be some areas we don’t want to build on,”
Terl said. “We can adjust the alignment to avoid those
areas.”
The other frequent
comment about the project is that it would bring too many
houses onto the town’s already overtaxed sewer system.
Terl said he has been brainstorming with others on how to
address this point. One idea is that Drees place money to
help the sewer problem in escrow to be used by the town when
construction begins.
“We can
also do exactly as the Myers group proposed and build a sewer
treatment plan,” Terl said.
The target costs
for the 329 houses would be about $350,000 for the single-family
homes, about $250,000 for town houses and about $180,000 for
elevator-accessed condominiums. Terl said these were the target
price points and the final price would depend on how much
costs, such as those paid to the town in the annexation agreement,
would be. The existing proffer package for the development
would be worth about $2.5 million to Thurmont.
“The goal
is to present a proposal and say, ‘This is a proposal.
What we really want is to hear what you want,’”
Terl said.
Terl
said the next step is to officially reactivate the Drees annexation
request and make an appearance before the commissioners to
update them on the project.
