Along with many other properties, the 7.8 acres was studied by the Thurmont Planning Commission and the Mayor & Board of Commissioners as part of the once every ten-year Thurmont Comprehensive Plan update that was approved in May 2022. This included the legislative act by the Mayor and Board of Commissioners to approve the Comprehensive Re-zoning that changed that part of the Simmers Property in the Town from Town Agricultural zoning to Town R-5 High Density Residential zoning.

In an open letter presented during the Thurmont Economic Development Committee monthly business owner’s meeting on March 2nd, Cross unveiled his concept plan for a new 40-unit intergenerational neighborhood that could be built on the land. He has nicknamed the submittal plan Simmers Déjà vu.

The proposed community will include ten ‘senior independent living’ townhouse dwellings with garages and thirty 3-story 20-feet wide townhouses with garages. The neighborhood will include a playground, walking trails, a dog park, and common areas.

Eliminated from the original plan are the condominiums that would have been built in a "English Flat’ style 12-unit building and the child day care facility. Also absent from the new plan is the eight-foot-wide multi-use trail around the property, as well as $505,680 that was to be provided to the Town for street infrastructure improvements and $337,120 that would have been used to expand the Town’s water storage and supply capacity.

While the town will still receive $554,200 in impact and permit fees from the new development, that will be slightly one third what the town was slated to receive from the original development.

Cross has dropped significantly the overall residential density of the new proposal from the original Simmers Property plans in response to feedback he received from the citizens of Thurmont and the January vote. The new density is proposed as 5.3 dwellings per acre, which is one half of the density allowed in the R-5 Zone. The new lower density contradicts the Town, County and State Planning guidance for higher density, so there may be potential issues the Town will need to resolve.

Unlike the recently defeated Simmers Property development, Simmers Déjà vu is not subject to a public referendum as the land is already within town limits. Work on Simmers Déjà vu will not begin until the town’s Planning Commission approves the site plans and all applicable permits have been issued.

The future of the remaining 16 acres of the Simmers Property that lie in the county and are agriculturally zoned is up in the air. Cross says he is concentrating on the current submittal. In the future, he may submit a concept plan and annexation request for the remaining 16 acres to continue the neighborhood with a mixture of single family homes, both types of townhouses and the long sought senior assisted living center.

In his letter, Cross noted that with over 100 other single-family homes already in the development approval process in Thurmont, he will work with the Planning Commission and interested parties to determine the appropriate number and size of the single-family homes planned in the neighborhood, which will be subject to a second annexation request to the Mayor and Board of Commissioners.