Fort Howard Veterans Monument
The Fort Howard Community is one of several uniquely small, rural, Chesapeake Bay communities on the historic North Point Peninsula.
How small? About 187 homes with seven or eight roads on 50 acres or so.
How rural? There’s no mail delivery, only the post office. There are no sidewalks, no curbs, the county doesn’t even have the right road signs on Blank and Fort Avenues, and that’s if you call a dirt road a road.
How Chesapeake Bay-ish? It’s surrounded by the bay where the Back & Patapsco Rivers end, or begin, depending on which way your sailing. Everybody’s living in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area.
How historic? Well this territory goes back to Captain Smith, way back to the 1600’s. That historic!
But besides all that stuff that sounds real good on glossy brochures and edgy websites, the true uniqueness of the community is the quietness and tranquility.
That mostly everyone knows everyone. That bad things that happen are very far and in between, and mostly everybody respects their neighbors minding their own business.
So then why a community association? Well the little town of Fort Howard is on it’s way to getting a big brother, a real big brother. A big brother ten times the size of little Fort Howard.
The Development page has composition of news article memorializing the last 15 years of evolution since VA hospital closed.
With Fort Howard being the host community of the hospital and now the re-development with the new tenant, a lot of decisions are going to be made, and all of them are going to affect every one now living in Fort Howard, forever.
500 million dollars of re-development is what is toss about. 500 million dollars.
Re-development that will basically be urban sprawl at its finest, bringing with it 500 million dollars worth of traffic congestion, sewage & water construction, road construction, CRIME, increased property taxes, the eventual disposition of the Fort Howard Park, and most importantly the uncertainty how all this is to bare on that small, rural, Chesapeake Bay community culture that makes living in Fort Howard quiet, tranquil and unique. Just to name a few.
If every house if Fort Howard was a million dollar home, all the homes wouldn’t add up to half the re-development. Wow.
So the question becomes do the residents of the community have a say in this? Or do some move and other live with whatever comes? And if they do have a say, what’s to be said, and who’s doing the saying?
The answer is there are federal, state, and county laws that give the community a say.
What’s to be said is up to the residents and that’s the reason now for an association. Anybody who every called the government knows if your not with some “group,” nobody takes them seriously. Many times even the group is not take seriously when they call. Especially when the conversation is about 500 million dollars.
The sky isn’t falling but it never hurts to be prepared. And having a little solidarity is part being prepared.
Look at the membership form. The only things you need do is live in Fort Howard and have an opinion, one way or another.
Meeting matters are raised by anyone. This is about as democratic as it gets. Everybody has a say. If one person or 300 says, that’s what the association says. That’s democracy.
The rules are laid out on the Legal page for everybody see and read along with the by-laws and corporate papers. All legit, no smoke, no mirrors.
This website is set up for information and communications, plain and simple. Your encouraged to comment. Your ideas are welcomed. With out them, we all lose.
