OWINGS, Md. — The Dash-In in Owings is one of a few businesses along Route 260, also known as Chesapeake Beach Road. Owners of the station hope to demolish it and the nearby single-family dwelling and build a new, updated filling station. But a zoning anomaly made that project impossible.
The Dash-In is located at 136 Chesapeake Beach Road, and the single-family dwelling in question is located at 150 Chesapeake Beach Road. The Dash-In owners aim to redevelop the property with a new, modern and better-designed facility. The renovation would enable the installation of modern and improved landscaping, lighting and stormwater management facilities, an upgraded septic system, better onsite circulation, safer entrances and other aesthetic improvements.
The two properties, despite being next door to each other, have different zoning designations; 136 is designated as Rural Commercial (RC), while 150 is designated as Rural Neighborhood District (RND). During comprehensive rezoning, the filling station did inform Planning and Zoning about its expansion plans. Director Jason Brinkley maintained that the previous director made the best decision for the properties at the time, even though they didn’t consider the properties’ locations in the expanded town center area.
Calvert has 11 different zoning designations — and the filling station question was even further complicated by the fact Owings’ town center designation itself is up for debate. Planning and Zoning included the question on its recent survey sent to Owings residents.
Eventually, the board voted to recommend changing the zoning designation to encompass the two properties in the town center area, allowing the filling station to move forward with its expansion plans. The representatives for the Dash-In acknowledged that they will have to adhere to whatever changes are set forth in the next comprehensive plan. The Board of County Commissioners will take up the zoning question next.
On top of the recommendation, the Planning Commission formally recognized the zoning “mistake,” not to point fingers but to give the board a mechanism to make the change.
Planning Commissioner Chris Gadway was the only “no” vote on the recommendation, saying he could not support moving “one, two or three properties specifically to a town center on the opposite side of a highway, especially when pending comprehensive plan updates within 12 to 18 months.”
The Owings Dash-In is out of the zoning definitions web for now as residents and officials alike continue to raise questions and make plans about Calvert County’s future.
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