March 29, 2024
Annapolis, US 41 F

Crystal Spring to submit new plan (and name) to City of Annapolis

In a letter to stakeholders today, National Lutheran Communities & Services President and CEO Larry Bradshaw, has indicated that they will be removing any of the non-age restricted development in a revised plan. NLCS is the party behind the development of the controversial Crystal Spring project along Forest Drive in Annapolis.  In addition, they will be changing the name of the project, presumably to thwart off any references to the older plans.

This change is coming at a critical time for Mayor Pantelides who campaigned on stopping the development. Opponents to the development have been holding his feet to the fire on that campaign promise. With the change in plans, the Mayor is unlikely to be able to stop the development which could prove critical in this election year where he is going to face at least two democratic challengers and a potentially a republican challenger.

First, I apologize that you have not heard from me in a while—although things have been happening, much of it we could not share with you until now, so I hope you understand. Please know that we have been working with the project team to reassess and examine new options for moving The Village at Crystal Spring—A National Lutheran Community forward. I know how imperative it is to expedite services to seniors in the Annapolis-area and I know many of you have been waiting several years.

As such, I wanted you to be the first to hear the news. This afternoon we will be issuing a public statement regarding a change in direction for the project, and specifically for The Village at Crystal Spring.  National Lutheran Communities & Services is pursuing a new plan to develop the continuing care retirement community (CCRC) through a special exception process with the City of Annapolis. We will present a new plan that focuses solely on the development of CCRC versus the broader mixed-use development.

This new proposal positions National Lutheran Communities & Services as the developer and the scope solely encompasses the CCRC, further reducing the overall footprint from previous submitted plans.  We intend to file those plans with the City for the special exception process by Spring.  We are also exploring a new name for the CCRC, to further disassociate it from the previous Crystal Spring development.

I recognize that while this news is exciting, it also raises a lot of additional questions. We will fully brief you as we have more developments and news, but we also want to be cognizant of spreading misinformation when we don’t have all of the answers. Once we have more information, we will set up several in-person meetings to showcase the new plan. In taking these next steps, our team is more confident than ever in the future of senior living in Annapolis, and we eagerly await the day we can celebrate that success together.

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