Painting by Alice WebbSince Erickson Retirement Communities backed out of a deal this past summer to purchase 188 acres of the 892 acre historic Doughoregan Manor property, the owners have been exploring other development options. Doughoregan Manor is the family home of Charles Carroll of Carleton, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence and his descendents still reside on the National Historic Trust property. The family has indicated that it needs the proceeds from development in order to restore the historic buildings.
According to this story by Jennifer Broadwater in The Columbia Flier, the new plan calls for the construction of 300 to 325 new single family homes.
“The latest development plan, though still in the early stages, would build between 300 and 325 single-family houses on the eastern side of the property, while preserving the bulk of the rest of the land, including the historic mansion, through the county’s farmland preservation program. In addition, the landowners would donate 34 acres to the county to expand Kiwanis-Wallas Park, which abuts the property.”
This proposal is bound to elicit opposition from neighboring communities as the family seeks to rezone a portion of the land to from Rural Conservation to Residential Environmental District. Still, it is seems to be a fair and reasonable request that would also place two thirds of the land into the county’s agricultural preservation program. While their neighbors sold off their farms for housing, the Carroll’s have continually fought to maintain some semblance of the original rural character of the area.
