PRO. EXHIBIT# /CASE: 90 .?0- 000^ VDATE: 5//Q/30

Anne Arundel CountyOffice of Planning and Zoning2664 Riva RoadAnnapolis MD 21402

Attn: Ms. Holly Colby

Dear Ms. Colby,

I received a letter from your office regarding the request for variances to "allow a dwelling andassociated facilities with less setbacks and buffers" at 317 Fairtree Drive in Severna Park. I amsubmitting this document in accordance with the procedures outlined in the letter. Thank youfor the opportunity to present my thoughts. I will be on the Zoom call next week. I am theneighbor next door at 420 Fairtree Drive.

For: Robert W. Higdon and Megan A. Higdon - 2020-0008-V (AD 3, CD 5)

Property Address: 317 Fairtree Drive, Severna Park, MD 21146

Date of Hearing: Tuesday, May 19th, 2020 at 11 AM

I read through the comments in the letter from Boyd and Dowgiallo and the submitted"Statement of Justification Support of Application for Variance Request" and have someconcerns about the justification and potential damage to adjacent property and potential for anadverse impact on Cattail Creek.

I am admittedly not as familiar with all of the County and State rules and regulationssurrounding the request as the Office of Planning and Zoning but have lived at 420 FairtreeDrive for 20 years and are very familiar with the stream behind our home and the adjacentproperty at 317 Fairtree Drive under consideration.

I have two areas I would like to bring to the attention of the Office of Planning and Zoning:

1. The false characterization in the "Statement of Justification Support of Application forVariance Request" of the stream flowing behind my house as anything other than an activestream that is fed by underground springs that flows 24/7/365. It is intermittentlyaugmented by storm drains during rain but is always flowing and has never in the 20 years Ihave lived here been anything other than flowing. The "Statement of Justification Supportof Application for Variance Request" spends a lot of time falsely characterizing the streamas not a stream which is factually incorrect from the definition as I understand it.

2. The slope that is on 317 Fairtree Drive and 420 Fairtree Drive (my property) shallows out asone gets closer to Fairtree Drive. That shallow inclination extends through Fairtree Driveinto the yards and impermeable surfaces across the street at neighbors homes. Thissituation means that the street as well as three properties across the street have water thatis Tunneled downhill through the a portion of the 31 7 Fairtree Drive property that is near myproperty and a 10' right of way (leading to Fair Oaks Community property) between myproperty (420 Fairtree Drive) and 317 Fairtree Drive. That slope is currently causing erosionafter every storm as the water from the street and neighbor's yards flows off the street,through a corner of the 317 Fairtree property, through Fair Oaks Community property andtoward the stream that feeds Cattail Creek. My concern is that the property will be altered,including the infiltration areas, and push that runoff more towards the 10' right of way andmy property exacerbating the erosion that will inevitably get to Cattail Creek. Specifically:

My disagreement about topic#1 above are comments onthe characterization of thestream behind my home asan "ephemeral stream" in the"Statement of JustificationSupport of Application forVariance Request" and that itis intermittent and solely fedby storm water. That is notcorrect.

When my family moved intoour home at 420 FairtreeDrive in 1999, there was astream that was was fed bysome of the manyunderground springs in thearea behind my home andseveral of the other homes onFairtree Drive. It flowed24/7/365 as it still does. In2013, the stream bed startedscouring and eating away atthe bottom and sides of thestream several homesupstream from me. AnneArundel County decided itwas bad enough to undertakea major reconstruction of thestream bed. Mr. DennisMcMonigle ran a verysuccessful project to createthe "Fair Oaks Outfall Retrofit#0499900" which has servedus very well to slow the watervelocity and reduce sedimentgoing into Cattail Creek.

Above is a picture of the flow today (5/12/2020) which is the normal amount when there is norain. the view is looking up the slope to317 Fairtree Drive. My home is on theright of the picture.

To the right is a picture of how the weirbehind my house looks during a recentrain storm; quite a difference but stillruns continually without storm water.

The "Statement of Justification Support of Application for Variance Request" states:

. Footnote #2 The "tributary stream' at issue is actually a stormwater outfall that has recentlybeen converted into a regenerative stormwater conveyance by the County's WatershedProtection and Restoration Program. " - This is untrue as evidenced by the reason AA Countycreated the current outfall - the scouring and erosion of the stream bed and stream sides thatcaused very large trees to literally be unrooted and fall creating a very dangerous situationcaused by a constantly flowing and significant stream.

. Footnote #3 "The "stream" at issue is a "regenerative stormwater conveyance" systemconstructed by the county in approximately 2013. Prior to the stormwater conveyance, thearea was no more than a stormwater outfall created contemporaneously with thedevelopment of the remainder of the Fair Oaks on the Magothy community. " Again, not acorrect history of the stream as I have seen it for the past 20 years.

. The term "ethereal stream" used on page 3 means intermittent which it has not been for thepast 20 years I have watched it.

With respect to #2 above about the unfavorable slope of the street and adjacent yards anddriveways: the slope causes rain run off to flow toward our properties at the tee at the end ofFairtree drive and confluence of 317 Fairtree Drive, a 10' right of way leading to Fair Oaksproperty, and 420 FairtreeDrive. My concern is that thegrade and the raisedinfiltration areas from theintroduction of the home at317 Fairtree Drive will pushthe flowing rain storm wateraway from 317 Fairtree andmore towards my property.That will erode the hill andinevitable carry sediment toCattailCreek. Here is adiagram of how the area runsoff today. Below is a view ofthe "tee" at the end of thestreet where rain flows.Beneath that is a picture ofthe erosion caused by our lastrain earlier this week.

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?;- L ̂ ^s^ai In summary, with respect to the stream and the run'''.^ ' off from the street, my concern with the variance is

that the erosion currently experienced next to myproperty due to rain flowing down the slope createdby the street and surrounding properties will bepushed towards my property and exacerbate the

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erosion problem we already have. That will lead to sediment ending up in the stream behindmy house that will eventually make its way to Cattail Creek.

One last thing I noticed in the documents - As on page 7, it is stated that "In particular, nearbyproperty owners on Fairtree Drive have single family dwellings developed on their properties ofsimilar or larger size. Almost all of these properties were constructed subsequent to theinception of the Critical Area Program, apparently without the variances triggered by theCounty's novel buffer-expansion protocol. " - as a point of reference, my house was built in1979 as were the other Fair Oaks homes along the stream. There may be a home or two at theend of the street on Cattail Creek that were not built before the 1986 but not the houses thatare near 317 Fairtree Drive so the Critical Are Program, as I understand it, was not in existencewhen my home and others in Fair Oaks were built so there were no variances that I am awareof.

Thank you,

David and Wendy Johnson420 Fairtree Drive, Severna Park, MD 21146410-258-4932davidcharlesjohnson@gmail. com

5/13/2020 Anne Arundel County Mail - upcoming variance hearing

ANNE.ARUNDELCOUNTY'

MARYLANDHolly Colby <zhcolb22@aacounty.org>

Tue, May12, 2020at6:10PM

upcoming variance hearing1 message

Durrie <mcsticka@gmail. com>To: zhcolb22@aacounty.org

For: Robert W Higdon and Meghan A Higdon - 2020-0008-V (AD 3, CD 5)Property address: 317 Fairtree Dr, Severna Park

Dear Ms Colby,

We live at 311 Fairtree Dr next to property that is adjacent to the lot under discussion (on the same side of Fairtree).We have concerns about the proposal that we wish to raise.

T^o begin with, they have wrongly claimed that the stream behind the property was artificially created for storm runoff.hisis_'ncc)^ect; yve ^onl t think wel ve ever seen the stream dry. with or without recent storms. In addition, the county

spent considerable effort enhancing it recently in part to help with erosion and provide a better filter as the'water runsdirectly into Cattail Creek. The impermeable surfaces created by the proposed'structures would possibly increaseerosion and increase runoff of surface contaminants. It could also result in excess silt in Cattail Creek.

n addition, the Fair Oaks Community Association owns a stretch of property along this stream between the Higdons'lot and the stream, and the construction could have an impact on that community property.

We are also concerned about the precedence this might set regarding the land between the Higdons' propertybetween and ours. The approval of this house on the Higdon property could also give significant justification forapproval to a house that might be proposed to be built on this property in the future.

l.t-sh.oul? ̂ so t).e^ote':i that twonew houses have recently been built within the past few years (that replaced existinghouses) almost directly across the street from the proposed site but they were only allowed to replace the footprint o1the previously existing houses.

Thank you for your consideration,

Rob Sticka and Durrie McKnew311 FairtreeDr.Severna Park, MD

PRO. EXHIBIT# oZ

CASE: ^030 -oco^-\|DATE: h^hQl^(^

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