Crofton Community Survey 2025

The Crofton Special Community Benefit District (CSCBD) was formed by Anne Arundel County through law in 1969 and charged the Crofton Civic Association (CCA) with oversight of the CSCBD. The CSCBD provides public safety, offers non-athletic recreation programs, maintains three Crofton parks and common grounds, advocates with the County and State on issues of importance to Crofton residents, and provides communication with the community. The CCA may also add new programs and missions as needed.

     We’d like to hear from you about what services you value or don’t value, and what you’d like to see us do better or perhaps something altogether new. This survey will take about five to ten minutes to complete.

     We want to hear from all residents of Crofton. The CSCBD is funded by taxes paid within the CSCBD area, also known as the “Triangle” (see https://www.croftoncommunity.org/district-map.) While some of our services, such as police protection, are limited to the CSCBD, many programs are open to all residents of the greater Crofton area. For instance, our annual Armed Forces/First Responders Parade and Cherry Blossom Festival are widely attended. Also, when CCA volunteers or CSCBD staff advocate for issues, such as improving Route 3 or limiting development without adding to our local infrastructure, we are advocating on behalf of all of greater Crofton. For this reason, we require your address below so that we can sort answers accordingly.

The CSCBD is currently budgeted for five police officers. Our officers are fully credentialled with the State of Maryland. We have a Memorandum of Understanding with AA County Police, and Crofton officers are dispatched through the AA County 911 service and the AA County Police non-emergency phone number. Our officers are fully equipped. Their jurisdiction is limited to the CSCBD, and they may only respond to calls outside of the CSCBD if dispatched there by AA County Police.

     The Crofton PD focuses on traffic and parking enforcement, community safety patrols, and responding to incidents within the CSCBD. AA County Police investigate major crimes (which are rare), and booking and holding are done at the AA County Central Booking facility at the Annapolis detention center. Fully staffed, the five officers provide coverage 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM five days a week, but that schedule varies depending on criminal activity. For instance,  Crofton police officers have done night shifts in the last year to help thwart thieves who were stealing wheels off of parked cars.

Note: If you are not a resident of the CSCBD, please skip ahead to Recreation.

While recreation is the CSCBD’s smallest budget category, it is perhaps what most residents are familiar with, both within and outside the CSCBD area. We’d like to know what you think of our current programs, as well as your ideas for other programs.

Every 10 years, the CCA organizes several special events to celebrate our anniversary. The CCA does some fundraising, as some of the events are costly to produce. However, four of the programs held in 2024 were very popular, and some folks suggested that the CSCBD make these annual events.

This category is a bit tricky for a couple of reasons. First, the CSCBD owns and maintains three parks: Swann Park, Willows Park, and Hardy Field. The playground equipment at Swann Park and Willows Park is in the process of being completely replaced, and the new equipment will be similar to what was installed last year at Hardy Field.

The CCA owns and/or maintains over a dozen common areas throughout the district. Some, like the front entrances and Lake Louise along Route 3, are obvious. Some, like the wooded acres at the corner of Good Hope Drive and Route 450 or the Duvall Family Graveyard in the “H” section, are not so obvious. Some are located behind lots of houses and in between, and you wouldn't know they're CCA properties unless your home borders one of these properties.

     The CCA's largest third-party contract is with a landscaping company that you may have seen mowing, trimming, blowing, and planting every week. We also have on staff a part-time maintenance worker who handles various tasks, including collecting yard signs on the Parkway, removing trash from the parks, and performing tree trimming after storms.

The CSCBD has five channels of communication: The E-Advocate (online), The Advocate (printed), email lists, websites, and social media. Except for the printed Advocate, which is mailed only to residents in the district, all communications are available to everyone in the greater Crofton area. In social media and the E-Advocate, we distribute information on CCA and CSCBD news and events, and share family-oriented activities in Crofton, including PTA and school events, as well as events organized by local organizations.

The E-Advocate – The E-Advocate is distributed monthly as an e-book formatted newsletter that can be read on any device and allows you to download a PDF if you want to save it or print it out. This channel provides the most comprehensive coverage of all things Crofton.

The Advocate – The printed Advocate is a full-color newsletter that is mailed to every resident in the CSCBD in May, September, and December of each year. The May edition includes CCA Board election information every other year, and the December edition includes the full budget for the coming year.

Social Media – The following are the social media outlets we use to get word out on events, meetings, and issues.

Email – The Crofton Civic Association maintains several mailing lists, including one for district residents, another for non-district residents, and a list of local businesses. Only the E-Advocate goes to everyone. However, we typically put out 4-10 email messages per month. These may include information on county meetings concerning a Crofton issue, late news, or reminders of big events, among other things.

Website – www.croftoncommunity.org is our website. The homepage includes current news and events, information about covenants, the CSCBD, staff and Board members, an archive of meeting minutes, the Gallery of Heroes, and other reference information.

The CSCBD advocates for Crofton's issues with the County and the State. Recent examples include advocating for an extension of the sidewalk on 424 to Bell Branch Park with a safe crossing, advocating for less development along Route 3, getting parking signage changed on the Parkway to reduce or move long-term parking of recreational vehicles, fixing the runoff problem at Crofton Colony, and so forth. We coordinate information sessions when an issue comes up, such as a session last year on the Beaver Creek restoration or annual legislative updates from our local representatives. The CCA belongs to and participates in the Greater Crofton Council and the AA County Growth Action Network.

Note: If you are not a resident of the CSCBD, you can skip this section and go to General Comments.

Unlike HOAs, most of the CSCBD properties are bound by restrictive covenants. There is a hodgepodge of many different covenants that were written as each section of the CSCBD was developed, going back to 1964. (see https://www.croftoncommunity.org/covenants and https://www.croftoncommunity.org/copy-of-streets-in-the-cca). Over the years, some of the rules have become arcane and unenforceable. For instance, some covenants only allow you to park “sedans and station wagons” in your driveway, and some require that you use “metal trash cans that are stored below ground level.” Others are outdated and require judgment in enforcement. For instance, most covenants prohibit conducting business from a residential house. Times have changed, with many residents now working from home, but most still prefer to avoid retail foot traffic in the neighborhood. There are also covenants regarding yard signage, architectural changes, and new buildings that are regularly enforced, and most residents want to continue these practices.

     CCA volunteers do covenant enforcement, as CSCBD staff are not allowed to enforce covenants. No tax dollars may be used to enforce covenants. For the most part, there are not a lot of reports of covenant violations, but occasionally we do get them.

     It has been suggested that we replace the current collection of covenants with a single universal set of covenants. This would be a huge and expensive project. It would entail legal review, an affirmative vote of a majority of the homeowners in each neighborhood with the same covenants, and filing fees. The legal and filing costs could cost tens of thousands of dollars.  

To help us better understand our community and its needs, please provide the following demographic information.