July 19, 2013 The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch Page 25 . . Mixed-Use Project Proposed For Site Adjacent To Schools FROM PAGE 23 opinion, it’s a relief valve that the schools don’t have right now,” said Cropper. “Right now, you are very limited on how your buses, your students and your parents can exit the school.” Additionally, because new residential and commercial development will always increase traffic in an area, Cropper said that RDC will design their development in a way that will make it impossible for people to pile onto Flower Street to use it as a shortcut. “You cannot exit the property and turn left. Nor can you travel in a northerly direction on Seahawk and turn right,” he said. Traffic from the potential retail project shouldn’t mix with the school during the school year, either, noted Rinnier. The times when schools are busiest, early morning and midafternoon, aren’t typical rush hours. Any interference can be addressed as the development grows in increments, he promised. “There are some complementing traffic patterns there. This will be done in phases so anything that we find that is a concern, we can all go back to that conversation again and talk about how to best solve it,” said Rinnier. The Board of Education listened to the briefing quietly, contributing only a few comments. Board member Bob Hulburd admitted that “there’s potential” to the Seahawk Road site for development but noted that there doesn’t seem to be any plans for the installation of traffic control devices and that students often cross Seahawk Road. Assistant Superintendent for Administration Lou Taylor said that the addition of any service road would definitely be a positive. Board member Sara Thompson asked about the content of the retail that might be put on Seahawk Road, telling Cropper and Rinnier that she would not be in favor of seeing things like tattoo parlors installed. Rinnier furthered that, because they hope to develop residential apartments in the area as well as the fact that anything built will be across from two schools, RDC will be careful about the retail that it seeks into any agreement. Getting retailers to sign on will be the next step and could be a tough process. “Selling the Eastern Shore of Maryland is still a challenge,” said Rinnier. “[Retailers] are from Baltimore, they’re from Washington; they don’t know the demographics here. They look at our community, particularly here, as seasonal.” Still, he’s optimistic about finding one or two big retailers to come on board. Once a contract is in place, commercial development could be ready about 18 months later. Development on apartments could begin in about 12 to 18 months, with apartments probably available for rent somewhere in the 18- to 30month range. The timetable is still loose, said Rinnier, and there are many steps left to go through like planning, zoning and potentially annexation into the town of Berlin. The development would be annexed into Berlin, Cropper told the board, so that the town’s utilities could be used. One of the major problems several years ago with earlier ideas for development, he said, was that Berlin “wasn’t ready” to handle the annexation of major retail or residential growth on Seahawk Road to that scale. Since then, the town has expanded its utilities, added a new stormwater utility and in general grown to the point where Cropper is confident an annexation would go well. “The timing, it was just premature back then … all these endeavors that were in process have come to fruition,” he said. Board of Education Vice President John Cook thanked Cropper and Rinnier for briefing the board on what RDC would like to do. He didn’t offer a positive or negative opinion on the presentation but did remind them that the board’s only concern is for the safety and wellbeing of the more than 2,000 students who attend the two schools on Seahawk Road. ENJOY THE DOG DAYS OF SUMMER SALTY DOG STYLE Friday: Eastern Electric Saturday: Dr. Harmonica & Rockett 88 Sunday: Locals Party With DJ Bigler • Tuesday: DJ Joey Capo OPEN 7 DAYS A WEEK AT 11 A.M . ! 410-289-BUXY • 28th Street Plenty Of Free Parking In Rear • Scratch-Off, Keno And Horse Racing Available www.buxys.com • www.myspace.com/buxyssaltydog Find Us On Facebook 10109 Pitts Road Showell, MD 21862 443-727-9042 (next to the little white church) A Children’s Book Written About Ocean City On Sale Now At The Following Locations: A Perfect Face • Funcade • Wockenfuss Candies • DeNovo’s Trattoria • Lighthouse Sound For information on other books check out mainstaypublishing.com or call 302.223.6636 lizlindeditions.com like us on facebook - liz lind editions OPEN! Saturday & Sunday 11-4. Open all week*. We ask that you call first.