CUMBERLAND — Allegany County officials defended the process used to select D.R. Horton as the developer for a proposed housing subdivision for the former Allegany High School site on the city’s West Side.
Members of the West Side Neighborhood Association citizens’ group attended the regular meeting of the Allegany County Board of Commissioners on Thursday for the fifth consecutive time. The citizens’ group has been strongly opposed to the selection of D.R. Horton, claiming the company has a track record of producing poor quality homes.
It was announced at the Sept. 21 meeting of the commissioners that D.R. Horton, the largest builder of residential homes in the country, had been awarded the bid. The county is seeking to have approximately 113 single family and cottage court homes constructed on the 12-acre site along Sedgwick Street.
Three builders had submitted offers when the request for proposal was issued by the county in the spring.
One submission was rejected for not meeting the criteria while D.R. Horton and Jane Rohde of JSR Associates, who developed the Living Together Model, were the finalists. The county ultimately felt that the Texas-based D.R. Horton was a better fit for the project.
Some members of the citizens’ group had favored the plan submitted by Rohde, but the majority opposed D.R. Horton, claiming the Texas-based developer has a history of producing inferior homes.
In the meeting, which at times was contentious, West Side resident Frank Asher said he would like to see a green living concept utilized.
“We have a chance as a community to encourage a new way of living here in Cumberland,” said Asher. “Please, before you do anything with (D.R. Horton) I ask that you consider other contractors and maybe open the bid up again. Can you do that?”
Roman Rozas, legal council for the county, said the next step will include submission of a site plan in the coming weeks from D.R. Horton.
“They have not provided us with a site plan yet,” said Rozas. “If they are the lowest bidder and it meets the requirements, then we are obligated to accept the bid.”
Asher asked if the county would move forward with D.R. Horton if the site plan was acceptable.
“Generally yes, is the short answer,” said Rozas. “There are some exceptions.” Rozas said there are laws in Maryland that govern that process.
West Side Association member Max Green has been requesting documents including emails related to the selection of D.R. Horton. Green claimed, according to emails, that the county enticed D.R. Horton when they invited Horton officials for a trip to a Baltimore Orioles baseball game with the county supplying the tickets.
“Who else did you offer to take to an Orioles game?” asked Green.
“Our staff has been nothing but above board on this,” said Jason Bennett, county administrator. “It is quite common for our economic development staff to entertain prospective clients.
“Sometimes those prospective clients can potentially do even more things here that maybe include even bigger plans here if they are interested in our area. It is not uncommon for us to entertain clients like that. It’s one of the vehicles we have for doing it and that was done.”
Green also claimed that a prominent local developer was involved in the luring of D.R. Horton to the area with the local developer often copied on email correspondence between the county and D.R. Horton representatives.
Bennett said an official with Carl Belt, Inc. did reach out to him.
“He (of Carl Belt) reached out to connect me with them,” said Bennett in an interview after the meeting. “He was real clear in saying hey, Carl Belt the company will have no part of this project or the sub work, but we want to see things move forward here in the county. He said (D.R. Horton) did good work. But that was the gist of it. But, Horton won the bid on their own merit and submission.”