Age-restricted neighborhoods pop up across county

According to the Frederick County Planning Division, 11 senior housing projects are approved and waiting to be built in unincorporated areas of the county.

The reason for the boom depends on who you ask.

Developers contend that a growing senior population is demanding adults-only housing.

‘‘People 55 and over want to be in a community geared to people like them,” said Rick Boyle, vice president of Natelli Communities.

‘‘It’s a supply-and-demand thing. I do not think I will have any trouble selling 75 age-restricted housing units.”

Natelli plans to build 75 senior-only homes on the north side of Fingerboard Road and the east side of Urbana Pike in Urbana.

Another 200 homes are planned on the east side of Interstate 270, southwest of Md. Route 355, also in Urbana.

Frederick County Commissioner Charles Jenkins (R) believes developers are opting to build age-restricted housing because they easily pass through the county’s growth control ordinance.

The Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance stops new housing from moving forward if roads, water, sewer and schools are not adequate to handle the new growth. Since senior housing does not allow children, the developer is exempt from the schools portion of the ordinance.

‘‘There is a very disproportionate number of age-restricted housing coming on line and there is a reason why,” he said.

Jenkins, who formerly worked for Ausherman Homes, is concerned eventually no one will enforce the age-restricted rules in a senior community, allowing owners to sell to families with children.

Boyle said regulations require developments to stay senior only.

‘‘This is to keep people from building, just to avoid the [growth control] test,” he said.

But Boyle admits his company does not want to spend thousands on land that will sit undeveloped because schools are overcrowded.

‘‘This is a business,” he said. ‘‘Maybe if there was no market for age-restricted housing [we wouldn’t build], but there is ... The political wind is blowing and now people are saying [developers will] do anything not to pay our share.”