Opposition to a proposed Park and Ride Lot in New Market at a November 28 community open house spilled over to the St. Mary’s County Commissioners’ public forum Tuesday evening. At the forum an array of well-known community leaders stood up to the microphone and voiced their objections to the 500-car commuter lot at the intersections of Routes 5 and 6 proposed by the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA).

Speaking against the lot at the public forum were: Planning Commission member Shelby Guazzo, a former county commissioner; Board of Appeals Chairman George Allan Hayden, Sr; John Parlett, a businessman and former school board member; Sonny Burch, owner of Burch Oil Company; Golden Beach/Patuxent Knolls Civic Association President Dale Antosh; Jack Bailey, a 27-year police officer and enrollee in the Johns Hopkins Public Safety Leadership Program; and Melinda Tracy, a teacher at White Marsh Elementary School.

Parlett, as he did at the SHA community open house at Charlotte Hall Library, proposed an alternative site at the intersection of Route 5 and Mechanicsville Road in Mechanicsville where a new traffic light was recently installed. Parlett noted pointed out SHA’s own statistics showing that the overwhelming majority of potential users of the New Market lot will be traveling from the south. He said the lot, owned by Dennis Burch would capture those commuters and be ideal because of the easy access from Route 5.

Concerns about the New Market site are many, including adding traffic to the already congested Route 5/6 intersection, disruption of traffic during construction of road improvements to Route 6, concern about the lots isolated location out of site from the nearest road, and thus concerns about crime particularly with its location next to Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School and an adjacent county park.

Bailey complained about the selection process. “This thing has been shoved down our throats,” he said. But he also emphasized his concern about public safety. “Crime will increase with this parking lot. You cannot put it beside a school.” He said he did a paper for his John Hopkins program on the problems of park and ride lots as neighbors to schools. He said MTA had not contacted Sheriff Tim Cameron. “This is a danger to our children,” Bailey concluded.

Tracy said almost a hundred cars and 12 buses use the school parking lot to pick up children at around 4 o’clock, also a peak time for the park and ride lot.

Antosh said there are only two ways in and out of Golden Beach: Golden Beach Road and Route 6. He said the park and ride lot in Charlotte Hall creates congestion on Golden Beach Road. He urged the commissioners to not allow another park and ride lot on the other community access road. He said the people of Golden beach are not the ones using the park and ride lots.

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