County Housing

Freshman Del. Neil F. Quinter is the new chairman of Howard County's delegation to the Maryland House of Delegates, replacing Frank S. Turner, a fellow Democrat. "I'd done it three years," Turner said. "It was a good time to show some other individual's leadership skills." Turner is taking over chairmanship of the House Appropriations subcommittee on personnel, and is vice chairman of the education subcommittee. Although Del. Gail H. Bates, a western county Republican, expressed interest in the chairman's job, "Neil was going to get elected," Turner said.

Driving the gridlike streets of Riverdale Park, I pass by well-kept Victorians and tidy bungalows. Residents work in their gardens or mow their lawns. It seems like your average suburban community. But then I spot a cream-colored mansion that looks as if it belongs in the European countryside, not here in Prince George's County. This remnant of the early 19th century comes as a surprise. I take it as a sign that this Maryland county east of Washington has more stories to tell than I'd originally thought.

Responding to a directive from Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development staged a surprise inspection yesterday at the dilapidated Kingsley Park housing complex in eastern Baltimore County. A spokeswoman for Mikulski said HUD officials were informed late last week that the senator has received numerous tenant complaints about deplorable living conditions at Kingsley Park, a World War II-era property owned by Baltimore-based Landex Corp. "The senator told HUD she wants them to deal with Kingsley Park and she wants it done promptly," said Amy Hagovsky, press aide to Mikulski, the ranking minority member on the appropriations subcommittee that will oversee HUD's proposed $31.3 billion budget for 2004.

A bill scheduled for a hearing at tonight's Howard County Council meeting, which would allow builders to renovate run-down homes to help satisfy the county's moderate-income housing laws, has won approval from the housing board, with several suggested amendments. The most important recommendation would limit such renovations to 20 percent of the moderate-income units in a developer's project, ensuring that at least some affordable housing would be included in new communities. Currently, moderate income means a house selling for $140,000 to $160,000 in a county where the average home price is close to $300,000, according to county housing Director Leonard S. Vaughan.

HUNTINGTOWN - Yet another tony subdivision is going up in once-rural Calvert County, the fastest-growing spot in Maryland. In the way this time is a century-old wood-frame farmhouse, a reminder of the once-common landscape that is just as rapidly disappearing. The house - from the peeling paint on its ceilings down to its splintered floorboards - is free to whomever will take it off the property where it has stood for what is believed to be 100 years. The developer will even pay $2,500 toward having the three-bedroom, one-bathroom house moved.

Anne Arundel County Council members met yesterday to discuss the possible creation of an incentive program to encourage homebuilders to construct affordable housing in the area. Draft legislation could be available for review as soon as Dec. 1. Affordable housing has become a political issue as housing prices in the county continue to skyrocket. Council members, as well as County Executive Janet S. Owens, promised to tackle the issue of affordable housing in their election campaign platforms.

Anyone who wants a chance to get a new garage townhouse in Howard County for half price must submit an application postmarked today, according to county housing officials. A lottery to choose nine moderate-income families to buy into the Cherrytree Park development of $240,000 garage townhouses near U.S. 29 and Route 216 will come within a month after the application deadline, said deputy county housing administrator Neil J. Gaffney. Those chosen will get a three-level, 2,160-square-foot townhouse for $118,700, with a minimum of $3,056 in cash required.

Building homes in Howard County that ordinary people can afford is getting harder by the day, as the county's latest attempt shows. With prices for new, detached houses routinely above $300,000, Leonard S. Vaughan, the county housing administrator, is working on a plan to build several dozen at half that price, but wetlands on the site chosen in Savage could limit the number of houses - putting the project in jeopardy. If not enough houses can be built, the per-lot cost might be too high for the deal to work, Vaughan explained.

What seemed to be a perfect opportunity for Howard County to provide affordable housing in Elkridge now appears headed for failure because officials can't use a federal grant they were counting on to buy the land, and there's no readily available local money to cover the cost. Although County Executive James N. Robey has often spoken of his support for lower-priced houses, housing administrator Leonard S. Vaughan said he doesn't think another source of money can be found in time for this project.

For more than 60 years, fanciers of the steamed Maryland blue crab trekked every summer to a secluded restaurant on the Bush River near Aberdeen and hammered and picked their way to gastronomical nirvana. They traveled to Gabler's Shore Restaurant from New York, Philadelphia and Washington in kind of a cultural homage to the model crab emporium not available in Queens or South Philly. And they traveled from the local crab capitals along Eastern Avenue and Belair Road. But these are sad days around Harford County.