It’s far too early in the conversation about the possible development of the Bay Club outside Berlin for anyone to take a definitive position, other than to express a willingness to listen.
The prospect of a project that would entail the construction of 300 or so luxury homes and, perhaps, the town’s annexation of that parcel, might sound like too much too soon for some people, because they imagine it happening all at once.
That, of course, won’t happen. No builder puts up 300 homes at the same time, just as 300 buyers won’t show up overnight and then descend on the town en masse. Like everything else that has occurred in Berlin over the past decade, this would happen in steps.
The greater issue in the discussions that will follow, however, is not necessarily whether the town should grow, but what could happen if it doesn’t.
Although remaining the same might sound like a solid option, other Eastern Shore towns – and, no doubt, many communities throughout the country – that have strived to maintain the status quo have failed in some regard.
Either they began to lose the vibrancy that propelled them to their current circumstances, or they became surrounded by growth over which they had no control, or they became increasingly expensive places to live, as costs and prices reflected a corresponding rise in exclusivity.
The reality is there is only one reasonable way to go and that is forward, while exercising as much control as is fair and prudent. The Bay Club will be developed some day no matter what the Town of Berlin does, just as other nearby areas will grow.
The decision Berlin officials and residents will have to make in the coming months is whether they want to stand by and watch growth happen on the town’s perimeters or be in the position to influence how it happens.
The prospect of a project that would entail the construction of 300 or so luxury homes and, perhaps, the town’s annexation of that parcel, might sound like too much too soon for some people, because they imagine it happening all at once.
That, of course, won’t happen. No builder puts up 300 homes at the same time, just as 300 buyers won’t show up overnight and then descend on the town en masse. Like everything else that has occurred in Berlin over the past decade, this would happen in steps.
The greater issue in the discussions that will follow, however, is not necessarily whether the town should grow, but what could happen if it doesn’t.
Although remaining the same might sound like a solid option, other Eastern Shore towns – and, no doubt, many communities throughout the country – that have strived to maintain the status quo have failed in some regard.
Either they began to lose the vibrancy that propelled them to their current circumstances, or they became surrounded by growth over which they had no control, or they became increasingly expensive places to live, as costs and prices reflected a corresponding rise in exclusivity.
The reality is there is only one reasonable way to go and that is forward, while exercising as much control as is fair and prudent. The Bay Club will be developed some day no matter what the Town of Berlin does, just as other nearby areas will grow.
The decision Berlin officials and residents will have to make in the coming months is whether they want to stand by and watch growth happen on the town’s perimeters or be in the position to influence how it happens.