March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 39 F

Crystal Spring Owner To Pantelides: Not For Sale

nfs_headerThe owner of the Crystal Spring property has sent Eye On Annapolis an email emphatically stating that Crystal Spring is not for sale to the City of Annapolis and that she has no interest in negotiating a sale with Mayor Pantelides.

I have absolutely no interest in selling my property to the State or City.  I want to see it developed as planned to create an inter-generational, mixed-use and vibrant setting for a Continuing Care Retirement Community.  This has been my vision for 15 years.

Richardson-Pearson also emphasizes the comments made by Speaker Mike Busch that the property is hers to determine the use and that he does not see a benefit to the citizens of Annapolis to purchase it.

The article Annapolis Mayor Pantelides outlines plan to purchase Crystal Spring property which appeared in today’s Annapolis Capital Newspaper leads your readers and the more than 2,000 seniors who have expressed interest in living at Crystal Spring to think that this plan is feasible when it is truly no more than a recirculated pipe dream of a no-growth contingent.

I have previously stated that my property has been under contract for sale to the project developer, Crystal Spring Development LLC, for several years.  The Developer, along with National Lutheran Communities and Services, Inc. (The non-profit CCRC sponsor) and Forest Drive LLC, have invested millions of dollars thus far following the planning process prescribed by The City of Annapolis.  The property was annexed in to the City of Annapolis and made an Opportunity Area for development in the City’s Comprehensive Plan.

This public discussion about a municipal purchase of my property should stop.  The article’s quoted 5-year total Open Space Allocation to Anne Arundel County was $21,500,000.  Even if this total was to be available for purchase of Crystal Spring, it would not even come close to the value of the property and development rights of the organizations that have been working on the project for 5 years.  Speaker Busch said the property belongs to Richardson-Pearson and “she can determine what she wants to do with it.”  He also said “I don’t know what benefit the citizens would get out of it if the city purchased the property.”

There is absolutely no reason why my private property development rights should be compromised when the concept plan being proposed brings so many benefits to the City of Annapolis and Anne Arundel County, the un-employed and under-employed and area retirees while at the same time preserving more than 125 acres of open space and voluntarily making environmental improvements to correct neighboring property’s pollution of the South River.

I have absolutely no interest in selling my property to the State or City.  I want to see it developed as planned to create an inter-generational, mixed-use and vibrant setting for a Continuing Care Retirement Community.  This has been my vision for 15 years.

This land has been slated for development for over 30 years and I have the legal right to pursue this path. After searching for 10 years for the right developers to manifest my vision, I have been more than satisfied with the plan we have devised that will permanently preserve over 125 acres of land as open space yet create a worthwhile addition for Annapolis including jobs, economic development, tax revenue for the City and voluntary improvements to improve the water quality to Crab Creek and the South River.

This idea of buying the land is going nowhere and we would appreciate The Capital helping to put it to rest.

Janet Richardson Pearson
January 13, 2014
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