JARRETTSVILLE, Md. — Sunflowers close to Norrisville Road in Jarrettsville are not yet in bloom. But a discussion over the future of the land they sit on is.
On Monday night, Bo Jarrett, one of the land's owners, explained to the community a proposal to redevelop and re-zone part of the land for business, potentially to bring in a new grocery store.
Jarrett told an audience of roughly 100 people there is pressure from his fellow owners to monetize the property.
"It's all theoretical. I don't have any permits; I don't have any drawings," Jarrett told attendees.
Rather than sell the farmland outright, Jarrett, an Owings Mills resident, explained to Jarrettsville neighbors his intention for a property which would benefit the area.
"I'm not going to sell to a couple of jackwagons that don't care about this community, that don't care about the Jarrettsville Lions Club," Jarrett continued.
Neighbors in attendance shared a long list of concerns: whether a potential new development would affect traffic, their water wells, which business would actually end up there, and whether it would stay.
"It just wouldn't be the same," said Melissa McDade, a volunteer for the Jarrettsville sunflowers.
Attending the sunflower attraction, an autumn activity with 24,000 Facebook followers, raises money for those in need.
"It would pretty much be devastating to us," McDade told WMAR, "because if they they take five acres out of the center or any piece of the property, we would lose either planting area or parking area, both of which are vital to what we do."
Several neighbors would rather not see anything change at the property at all.
Some brought up the possibility of neighbors banding together to buy the property—a course of action Jarrett seemed warm to but did not publicly say how much the community would need to raise.
"To think we can come together as a community and keep our community rural would be amazing," Stephanie Hyza, a Jarrettsville resident, told WMAR.
