HARFORD COUNTY, Md. — The color orange binds Fallston together. It's the color of the Fallston High School Cougars.
But folks like Tom Dixon, a decades-long Harford County resident, are now wearing it to show unity against a proposal near their home.
"It's not necessarily just the apartments," explained Dixon, "it's the overall overdevelopment of the area."
Some neighbors took to the Harford County Council Tuesday night to show councilmembers they oppose development proposals, which might be stalled by legislation introduced at the meeting, if it succeeds this time around.
An effort to restrict apartment development in what's known as B3, high-density business districts, failed last legislative session; this time, County Executive Bob Cassilly told WMAR he hopes for a different outcome as the effort was introduced back before the council Tuesday.
"If we start using all those business districts to put high-density housing, it kind of defeats the entire purpose," Cassilly said.
A group of neighbors in the county showed out against the Fallston proposal Tuesday: two potential four-story apartment buildings and garages on Mountain Rd.
"I'm not against development; I'm not against apartments, but it needs to be responsibly done so it doesn't overburden the community," Doug Schamburg, a Harford County resident, told WMAR.
Many also attended to show opposition to another proposal to build warehouses in Perryman. Cassilly wants to add new restrictions to the development of new warehouses, including limiting the size to 250,000 square feet.
RELATED: Harford Council rejects bill to control number of apartments built in business districts
Much like at the Tuesday County Council meeting, at a separate meeting last month, it was standing-room-only. Many spoke out loudly against the idea.
At that August 11 meeting, Mike Euler, one Fallston Village Center partner, argued it would actually make for less traffic, one of the stated concerns of some neighbors.
"This particular use generates about 250 less cars a day according to our traffic engineer, which is a criteria that's given to us by the county and the state to use," said Euler.
READ MORE: Harford Co. residents concerned that developers will turn Fallston "into a cheap piece of jewelry"
