Dragway Sold to Make Room for Homes
According to this Frederick News-Post article (reg req’d) the sale of the 75-80 Dragway is part of a plan to add new commercial and residential real estate to Monrovia.
If plans go through, the 1/4-mile track on which stock cars have raced for 45 years will become part of a 1,600-unit residential and commercial development.
Houses would fill what is now 120 acres of farmland around the dragway that straddles Fingerboard Road (Md. 80) and Green Valley Road (Md. 75), Mr. Wilcom said.
Homes and shops could also fill the other parcels the Wilcom-owned companies are selling. In addition to the 120 acres of farmland, the companies are selling the land the dragstrip is on, which totals about 170 acres.
It would take at least two years to break ground once zoning is approved, assuming it gets approved.
With these homes being so close to Montgomery County I have to assume the prices will be pretty high. Maybe too high for a chunk of current Frederick County residents to afford.
I drive on 80 all the time and I don’t see how that road can support any more traffic at certain times of the day. It sounds like a nightmare to me.
And if the homes they build are anything like the ones in the Villages of Urbana and the Highlands, you are right about the high cost. This part of town does not need any more McMansions.
I use 75 as an alternate to get around 270 some times and I can’t imagine any more traffic or houses in that area either. Maybe that is why it’s going to take 2 years to break ground, they will have to do some creative traffic and infrastructure planning.
I actually sent a letter to the editor last year about the horrible intersection of 80-Ijamsville Road-Big Woods Road. That’s an accident waiting to happen (there are accidents, but not yet the “big one” aka , fatality) More traffic would be deadly.
My kid is at UHS and drives daily to school. Let me tell you that my heart skips a beat every time I hear that life flight helicopter on weekday mornings.
Guy you should check the Frederick county planning commission’s website for the Urbana Area approved in June 2004. The zoning has already been approved for the homes and commercial locations. That is why this land has been sold because it is worth more as houses and businesses than it is as a racetrack. I’m sure the next two years will be spent planning the future site plans ang getting them approved and not getting the zoning changed.
Thanks for the tip. I will check it out.