The Southern Howard County Civic Association, Inc. held a community meeting this week at the North Laurel Community Center to meet with government representatives to discuss several festering issues, in which several residents sounded off loudly.
A key issue for some residents was noise from Interstate 95 in Laurel where the state constructed one sound barrier, but did nothing to protect residents on the other side.
While there were no state highway representatives there, both the Howard County Council and the Howard County Executive’s office were represented.
Deb Jung, Howard County Council Chair, was the only elected official in attendance. Proxies stood in for Councilmember Christiana Rigby and Howard County Executive Calvin Ball.
Several residents of the Cardinal Forest neighborhood urged Jung to wield her influence with the Maryland State Highway Administration to find funds for what they considered a much overdue project – building the second sound barrier.
Jung empathized with the group, explaining that she has similar sound problems in her neighborhood. She said that Maryland SHA now has the barrier project on the deferred list, meaning that funds are not currently available.
She also suggested involving the County’s state delegation in the discussion may yield better results. No one from the delegation was represented at the meeting.
Christopher Eatough with the Howard County Planning and Zoning Department opened up the meeting with a presentation of the planned improvements for Old Skaggsville Road, which includes new sidewalks for improved pedestrian safety.
The project completion date is anticipated to be in 2027.
The improvements are part of the Old Scaggsville Road Pedestrian / Bike Feasibility Study. For more details on the study click here.
One resident made a complaint about improvements needed for All Saints Road between Route 216 and Skaggsville Road. Eatough noted that the complaint should be registered with Howard County Department of Public Works. The resident confirmed that the request was input with DPW. According to Eatough, once a request is in the DPW queue, the beginning of construction may not be for a couple of years.
Near the end of the meeting, Paul Thompson with the County Executive’s Office of Director of Constituency Services, presented SHCCA with a County proclamation commending the organization’s persistence leading to the planned construction of an indoor community swimming pool at the North Laurel Community Center.
SHCCA President Bibi Foston read through a list of other community concerns that had been brought to her attention. They included the potential for holiday crime, deer management, problems with dogs, and other issues.
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