Pennsylvania: Station for Md. commuters Growth: From across the Mason-Dixon Line, Marylanders are pushing the limits of what was formerly Pennsylvania Dutch farmland in York County.

YORK, Pa. -- Chances are, you've got a friend in Pennsylvania.

Maybe more than one, considering the number of Marylanders crossing the Mason-Dixon Line these days in search of affordable housing, good schools and a taste of country living.

Marylanders, who for years have settled on the Pennsylvania border, now are moving north into the heart of York County, stretching to an hour or more their daily commute to work in the Baltimore suburbs.

As a result, a county once dominated by Pennsylvania Dutch farmers is struggling to cope with a very urban phenomenon -- sprawl.

Houses now stand next to barns and corn cribs on land that once grew crops. In the past 10 years, 50,000 acres have been lost to development, and the majority of York County's land no longer is devoted to farming.

"One of the big selling points is the homes do have nice farmland and open space," said Reed J. Dunn Jr., director of the York County Planning Commission. "We could be killing the goose that lays the golden egg."

Between 1970 and 1990, the number of Baltimore-area workers living in Pennsylvania grew from 3,000 to 17,000, according to Census data. And despite efforts to control growth and preserve land, Marylanders continue to pour across the border, driving up York County's home prices and school taxes.

"There's no indication that it's leveling off at all," Dunn said.

In the southern part of the county, where as much as 90 percent of new houses are sold to Marylanders, there has even been the emergence of a "Yorkamore" community -- one that loves crab cakes as well as shoofly pie.

Every Thursday night, for example, diners descend on LaMotte's Restaurant and Bar in New Freedom, Pa., for all-you-can eat crabs seasoned with Old Bay.

"It's a Maryland thing," said owner Larry LaMotte, whose father moved across the line from Baltimore County and began serving crab cakes more than 60 years ago. North of Harrisburg, LaMotte said, "They don't know what seafood is."

The trek north began in the 1950s with completion of Interstate 83, which spawned growth in border communities such as Shrewsbury, Hanover and New Freedom. With available land there diminishing, Maryland residents now are moving north to Red Lion and York.

Among those who made the move long ago are Robert and Frances Barnstein, who left Baltimore for Shrewsbury 10 years ago.

"This is where I feel my home is," Robert Barnstein said, as he picked apart a hard-shell crab at LaMotte's recently. He said the quiet, rural life is worth the 45-minute commute he makes to work each day in Glen Arm.

Susan McClure, a human resources manager who lives in Red Lion, Pa., drives 70 minutes to work in Woodlawn, and said she has divided loyalties. The Baltimore area offers higher salaries and more professional opportunities, but Pennsylvania has lower prices.

"It offers the best of both worlds," McClure said.

Marylanders are drawn to Pennsylvania by more affordable homes as a result of lower land costs. Gary Hall, manager of S&A Custom Built Homes, which builds in York and Baltimore counties, noted that a half-acre lot in New Freedom costs about $42,500, while a similar lot across the border can cost almost twice that.

Little wonder that about 20 percent of the workers in Hunt Valley opt to live in Pennsylvania, according to estimates by the Hunt Valley Business Forum.

When United Parcel Service transferred Scott Aubuchon from Seattle to its facility in Loveton last year, he and his wife, Carol, considered houses on both sides of the Mason-Dixon Line. Eventually, they paid $215,000 for a five-bedroom house in New Freedom -- larger than anything they found for the same price in Baltimore County.

"The most important thing was we could get more house for our money," Carol Aubuchon said.

The drive to work isn't a problem, either, she said. "When you move from a city like Seattle, where it takes a while to get where you're going, 30 minutes is no big deal."

And while they enjoy living in Pennsylvania, they still take advantage of city amenities, such as Orioles games, she said.

"What we really like is we have this incredibly rural setting and we're still close to the city," she said.

Another plus is the small-town atmosphere of York County, said Kelly Silk, who soon will move with her husband from Harford County to a new home in Shrewsbury.

"It's a much closer-knit community," said Silk, who grew up in Shrewsbury. "I miss going to the grocery store and seeing people I know."

But Silk conceded that her hometown is changing. Traffic is getting worse, and taxes are rising to pay for new classrooms and teachers. The owner of a $100,000 home, for instance, can expect to pay $1,740 a year in school taxes alone.

While residents have protested increases in their taxes, newcomers often express surprise that Pennsylvania doesn't offer a level of public services to which they are accustomed.