Â鶹´«Ã½

Easton is under a period of significant residential growth with multiple large-scale housing projects under construction. In 2000, the town’s population was 11,708, according to census data. Ten years later, it rose to 15,945, and since, it’s grown at a slower pace to 17,101 in 2020.

The boom has raised a litany of concerns, from increased traffic to a change in the town’s small-town complexion.

Some residents, and a few officials, think Easton should press the brake pedal. But local real estate agents contend that a halt to growth could box out lower- and middle-class buyers and renters.

Martha Witte Suss, an associate broker for Coldwell Banker Realty and Easton resident, said the housing market has been in a crunch since the pandemic. She said there’s not enough reasonably priced homes or rentals to satisfy employees who commute from outside Talbot County.

“We have plenty of housing that they can’t afford,� Suss said. Residential growth, if it focuses on affordability, could cure that dry spell, she added.

Michael Ports, vice chair of the Easton Planning Commission, poses the town’s conundrum like this: “What are the housing needs of the people currently, and can we achieve that in a way that doesn’t compromise everyone’s needs for services?�

It’s a question town leaders are taking on, even if there’s no easy answer.

This fall, 136 apartments on Elliott Road will begin opening. Two large communities are under construction east of Route 50, combining for over 450 projected single-family homes. Near Easton’s downtown, a developer plans to transform two former Perdue AgriBusiness sites into housing projects, totaling 144 units.

In all, roughly 1,127 units are recently finished, under construction or approved by the town’s public bodies, according to information from town planners and developers of the 17 listed projects.

The pipeline of projects has yielded varying opinions from town leaders. Some don’t want any new large housing projects approved in the next few years. Others prefer a case-by-case approach.

Mayor Megan Cook said the right answer is “probably somewhere in between.� The town should focus on the current projects but not be too quick to disregard new ones, she said.

The mayor said growth is a charged topic and especially complicated due to affordable housing needs. No solution is a “silver bullet,� Cook and others have repeatedly said.

“It is a balancing act,� Town Council President Don Abbatiello said. “There would have to be a project come along that would fit that need, that workforce housing, that affordable housing piece.�

In interviews with Â鶹´«Ã½, Easton officials weighed in on the town’s current list of housing developments. When asked about infrastructure, the most recognized concerns included roads, fire and police services and Â鶹´«Ã½.

They offered thoughts on where the town should focus its residential growth. Most leaned toward building from the inside-out. Planning Commission Chairperson Phil Toussaint is of that opinion. He hopes the sprawling, single-family developments are coming to an end.

“We wouldn’t really want to support any development on the outskirts at all,� Toussaint said.

And broadly, the 1,127-unit mark can be misleading since some units aren’t under construction and may not be for years, Toussaint and others said.

“(People) think they’re gonna appear tomorrow,� Toussaint said. “They’re not.�

Single-family home neighborhoods typically take years to build out, such as Easton Village off of St. Â鶹´«Ã½ Road, a project of around 250 homes first approved in 2003 and just now reaching completion. So far, the 200-home Gannon Range and 252-home Four Seasons projects only have 18 and 11 building permits, respectively, according to Easton planning and zoning director Miguel Salinas.

“It’s a daunting number. It’s hard to hear,� said Cook, who as mayor doesn’t have a vote on housing applications. “But at the same time, you look at some of the examples as a community, the neighborhoods that we’ve had. They’re built out over 20 years.�

THE PIPELINE

Since town planners prepared a list of Easton housing projects this winter, chatter of “the pipeline� has been frequent at Town Council and Planning Commission meetings. Those two bodies are responsible for approving most of the projects.

The commission is made up of volunteer members and often can only make a recommendation to the council, whose members are elected. But sometimes, the commission holds final say, such as when it approved the 116-apartment Easton Crossing complex on Brookletts Avenue this year.

The five members of the council and six members of the commission offer a range of opinions when it comes to the town’s growth.

Town Council Ward 3 representative David Montgomery provided perhaps the most rigid perspective.

“I want to stop for at least five years before we add anything more to this backlog,� Montgomery said. “I want to see how fast it actually grows, it’s actually built out.�

Others were less firm on completely stopping growth, though all council members interviewed for this story said, at the very least, the town needs to be mindful. Some prefer a project-by-project approach, such as Abbatiello, who said future housing proposals need to be the “right fit� for Easton.

“I think right now, there’s enough in the pipeline for us to say, ‘Let’s see how the projects impact the town’s resources before we go adding a lot more to that list,’� Abbatiello said.

Planning Commission members have mixed thoughts, too.

Ports, the commission’s vice chair, said Easton is “missing a good bit� even with the current project inventory. He said the missing units largely fall between expensive single-family homes and for-rent apartments — a sphere urban planners call “the missing middle.�

“The reality is that the median sale price of a home right now is almost twice what a family of four making the absolute average income here in Easton can afford,� Ports said. According to Maryland Realtors, the July 2025 median sales price in Talbot County was $545,000, the third highest in the state.

Tom Klein was the commission’s lone vote against the Easton Crossing project, citing traffic and parking concerns. He said the need for more affordable housing is clear. But Klein would prefer to have a target number. At times, it feels like Easton is “chasing something� it doesn’t know, he said.

“How many more do we need? Do we just keep assuming we keep needing more?� Klein asked. “That, to me, is something I don’t really know the answer to. I think it would be helpful to know that so we don’t just blindly build.�

‘MORE AND MORE CROWDED’

Town planners and engineers have processes to gauge the impacts residential projects will have on the town, such as traffic and environmental studies or reviews by the town’s nonprofit utility, sewer and water company, Easton Utilities.

Even with project-specific studies, many town leaders believe traffic is a top-of-list concern, along with other infrastructure matters.

Montgomery said town staff should be “much more skeptical about the traffic impact studies� submitted alongside housing proposals. Ward 4 representative the Rev. Elmer Davis said the traffic issue is obvious to the human eye.

“I don’t need a traffic study to tell me that the traffic in Easton, periodically, is a problem at best,� Davis said.

Handling traffic backups is a tricky matter, Cook said, since some roads are state-run, others are under county purview and many downtown are maintained by town engineers and public works employees.

Off of Route 328, or Matthewstown Road, 136 apartments are opening soon, while 200 single-family homes will be built just down the road. It’s an area residents have flagged during council and state transportation meetings.

“(Route) 328 is going to become busier and busier, and folks, I fear, are going to have more and more challenges getting out to (Route) 50,� said Councilmember Robert Rankin, who represents residents in the Route 328 area.

A State Highway Administration is underway to assess pedestrian and traffic needs on the busy state road that funnels onto Ocean Gateway. Previously proposed concepts by the state include adding left-turn lanes on Matthewstown Road and adding a second through lane on Goldsborough Road as drivers cross Route 50.

Traffic has consistently been brought up as a reason to lean away from annexing land for residential growth outside of Easton’s core. Nearly all commission and council members interviewed for this story said they prefer to keep growth within the area encircled by Route 50 and Easton Parkway (322).

The Planning Commission has especially expressed that preference during workshops updating the town’s comprehensive plan, which lays out the town’s vision for handling growth in the next decade.

In July, the commission rejected the Fox Chase Estates, a 365-unit, mixed-use development proposed near a warehouse and industrial park north of Easton Airport and near the under-construction Shore Regional Health hospital. Town Council members maintain final voting power on the project, though it’s unclear when or if it will come before them.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend against the development, citing a lack of connectivity as a main reason. The vote lines up with the commission’s recent direction as they draft the new comprehensive plan: build from the inside-out.

“We’d rather see infill,� Klein said. “We want to see connected neighborhoods.�

That line of thinking, shared by many Town Council members, still leaves Easton with infrastructure challenges, such as downtown streets, utilities and safety. The latter was emphasized by Cook and council members as a chief priority.

Funding for the Easton Police Department and Easton Volunteer Fire Department makes up around 40% of the town’s general fund budget. Abbatiello, who volunteers for the fire company, wants to hold off a massive increase in the cost for fire services by maintaining the department’s volunteer status for “as (long) as possible.�

“The biggest tax increase residents of Easton are ever going to see is if the Town of Easton needs to go to a paid (fire) department,� Abbatiello said.

Easton Utilities evaluates water demands annually. According to a statement from Doug Abbott, director of engineering and water/wastewater departments, the utility is using 60% of its water and wastewater capabilities, leaving 40% “to accommodate future growth.�

And as for downtown traffic, some town leaders are worried infill will do more harm than good.

“Our streets are becoming more and more crowded, and I am concerned the more that we have infill development, the harder it is to maneuver around this town,� Ward 1 Councilmember Maureen Curry said at a comprehensive plan workshop Aug. 25.

“I just don’t accept that assumption,� Toussaint, the commission chair, later said. He argued that concentrating growth downtown will take cars off town streets and improve walkability.

Overall, the Aug. 25 meeting yielded a key takeaway: the new comprehensive plan is likely to include a preferred annual population growth rate around 1.75%. Planners initially proposed not to mark an annual growth rate in the plan, a change from the 2010 version, which stamped the rate at 1%.

Town Planner Lynn Thomas said at the meeting that without a growth rate, the plan would use historic projections to determine if the town should consider adopting policies to remedy growth trends either “significantly lower or significantly higher� than expected.

But Town Council members said a rate should be clearly stated to keep the town honest.

“I do think it would be helpful to have at least something to point toward,� Rankin said. The Planning Commission will adjust the drafted plan later this fall, likely reinstating an annual growth rate, before hosting a public hearing.

The town’s Affordable Housing Board and Attainable Housing Task Force are other bodies taking cracks at addressing the housing-growth debate. The task force is currently producing a list of recommended housing policies for the Town Council to consider.

Cook acknowledged that while town boards and discussions are great, “actionable items� — such as the comprehensive plan and policies — are on the way and will bring true benefits to residents. But nevertheless, she’s happy Easton is addressing its growth problem head-on.

“No one else around here is having these conversations, but the Town of Easton is,� Cook said. “They’re difficult conversations. They’re polarizing conversations, they’re very emotional conversations. But we’re having them.�