A Backwater's Incoming Tide

"You don't have to walk around town long to realize it has dire economic needs," said Phil Johnson, one of the builders of Harbour Light. "The solution isn't going to come from seafood anymore, it's going to come from tourists and second homes. The key is to preserve the old without allowing the high-rise buildings to change too much of the city."

But some of Crisfield's 2,700 residents worry that the new residents -- or "come-heres," as Crisfielders call them -- will bring traffic and noise and put pressure on the city's deteriorating sewer system. Soaring property values, they fear, could squeeze out the remaining watermen and spoil the quaint, everybody-knows-everybody charm.

"These people come here on the weekends and then they leave. There's only so much they can support," said Russell Morgan, 48, who has lived his whole life just outside Crisfield's city limits, which consist of three square miles, half of which are under water. He has been drinking coffee at Gordon's and crabbing in the Bay for 25 years.

"When people get offered $1 million for something that was worth $55,000 only three years ago, they're tempted," Morgan said. "A lot of people think it's gonna run the watermen out. They won't be able to afford to stay here with the rising property taxes."

In this one-stoplight town built on oyster shells, where residents fondly recall the opening of a McDonald's restaurant seven years ago as a momentous "now-we're-on-the-map" event, the flurry of building has caused quite a stir.

"A sleepy town like Crisfield getting five or six condos at one time kind of overwhelmed everybody," said Doug Nelson, a lifelong resident who co-owns Gordon's Confectionery. "We needed a shot in the arm, but it was just too much at one time."

Development has also sparked political controversy. In March, the city council voted to enter a contract with private development firm Crisfield Associates LLC, giving them exclusive rights to develop city-owned property or a share of the profits from projects developed by others on about 240 acres of vacant municipal land.

In June, voters ousted Crisfield's longtime mayor and two council members, electing a new lineup that promptly nixed the contract.

Since then, two development firms have offered to pay $1.5 million to repair the leaking 1936 sewer line in exchange for approval of their development plans. But some civic and business leaders argue that the city should pay for the upgrades itself.

"The city's going to maintain control over the system no matter who pays for it," said Calvin Dize, the city manager. "We're trying to move slowly to do this right."

Several private developers have expressed interest in building stores and restaurants on 60 vacant state-owned acres adjacent to the Somers Cove Marina in the center of town. For example, Shaw Development LLC, the company behind the 23-unit Captain's Galley Condominiums near the city dock, wants to build 80 more units as well as a hotel and conference center there. Annemessex Trading Company LLC, founded by former Crisfield Associates developers, also wants to build on that land as well as on a city-owned parking lot downtown.

"The people who are buying here have money," said Jim Gay, a partner with Baltimore-based Shaw Development. "When they come they bring money along with them and we need to give them places to use it."