How did you end up running an
award-winning construction design firm in Maryland?
I grew up in Connecticut. I had a good background in construction going through college and my family had a manufacturing company. I had a “real job” coming out of Penn State – I went to work for an import/export company for 364 days. I had to wear a tie every day and I hated it. I was looking for something I could do where I felt I was showing my merit and had something to show for it at the end of the day. So I went to work for a small construction company and really learned Williamsburg-style reproduction homes from the ground up. In 1988, I started my own company and now we’re a full service design build company.
What do you see happening in Harford County today?
Everybody talks about the development envelope - when I first moved here they were still talking about Box Hill. But really it was the filling out of that development envelope as it started to grow outward. With a lot of the growth has come traffic; a lot of people point at development as the reason for that but to me it’s more a symptom. The underlying problem is the infrastructure that had been forecasted was never invested in. People want no growth and want to keep everything out, but they can’t. It’s coming whether we want it or not, so it’s about having that growth happen in a positive way, expand your roads and infrastructure and have good, measured development.
One of the more disappointing things is the rate at which the farmland is being gobbled up in the county – I’m not a new home builder, my job is to take existing structures and make them work. We’ve built only a few new homes. I’m in favor of increased density inside those areas where it’s present but the zoning code as it is currently written isn’t conducive to that. It has forced the unchecked mini-mansions over the northern end of the county and that’s not smart growth at all.
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What’s your favorite place in the county?
I’m very partial to Bel Air, it’s the county seat. I’ve moved back here about ten years now, and I just love it. I can walk downtown, see friends…I’ve gotten my hair cut in the same place for 25 years at Town Barbers.
If you weren’t running Van Deusen Construction, what would you want to do?
One of the things I’ve started to do more on the side is development,
or maybe re-development. One of my favorite phrases is “adaptive reuse of properties,” the opportunity to take a building and see what it can be. That’s what catches my eye – when you have an older structure with some problems and you have to figure out how to make it work.
Are you a dog person or a cat person?
I’m a dog person. I’m a big lab guy – we have Sadie, about age 9,
a mutt, and Beau, a purebred, age 3 – he’s my office assistant and he comes here once in a while.
What about you would surprise people to learn?
I’m probably not as conservative as I seem – I have a more liberal streak in there that my wife has developed to help me see things differently. I consider myself to be a Reagan Republican but I’m more socially liberal in trying to recognize the rights of others. I’m trying not to be so judgmental in my middle age and trying to be more understanding of others.
Jay Van Deusen, President Van Deusen Construction Company,
323 Williams Street,
Bel Air, 410-836-2445
www.remodelmaryland.com |
