Laurel's planning board has recommended approval of a new subdivision off Eleanor Roosevelt Drive, but concerns about the city's water system and aging infrastructure remain at the forefront of the debate.
Hear community concerns here:
The board attached 22 conditions to its recommendation — including a requirement to evaluate impacts to water — and sent the project to City Council for a public hearing.
Developer Michael Bergman has been pushing the Goldberg Sporting Estates project since 2018, even scaling it back from 300 homes to just 82 multifamily units.
He returned before the planning board Wednesday to pitch it again.
"We've been tweaking and tweaking to try to get it to work," Bergman said.
Some residents who spoke up aren't entirely convinced the city is ready for the growth.
"Our water system and our infrastructure can't handle currently what we have," Laurel resident Jennifer Lorenz said.
"We don't know what pipes are under there. We're regularly encountering broken pipes that are 100 years old," a member of Laurel CARED, a group formed opposing the siting of a state forensic mental facility on the west end of town, said.
The board also raised flags over an outdated traffic study and a lack of parks for a neighborhood that could hold more than 200 kids.
"If you don't put parkland in when it's first done, it will never happen," a planning board member said.
With the board's recommendation now in hand, the project moves to City Council for a public hearing.
