Calvert County’s new Department of Planning and Zoning Director Charles “Chuck” Johnston presided over his first work session Tuesday, Nov. 1. The main topic of discussion was a component of county planning for which Calvert has become celebrated—town centers.
The process of updating the seven town center master plans started in 2007 and, to the dismay of many, has become bogged down with minutiae. The Solomons Town Center Mast Plan and Zoning Ordinance update was completed in Sept. 2009. In 2008, master plan updates were started for St. Leonard, Lusby and Huntingtown. Three town centers—Prince Frederick, Dunkirk and Owings—have not had their updates started.
The Calvert County Commissioners and the Calvert County Planning Commission will meet in a joint work session later this year to review the third draft of the St. Leonard Town Center Master Plan. The first draft of the revised Lusby Town Center Master Plan will be presented to the commissioners in late March. The Huntingtown Town Center Master Plan update remains in limbo pending a request to the Maryland State Highway Administration to conduct a Route 2/4 corridor study.
“The town center concept was adopted in the 1983 Calvert County Comprehensive Plan and implemented in the County Zoning Ordinance in 1984 after four years of intense public scrutiny,” stated Department of Planning and Zoning Principal Planner Jenny Plummer-Welker. “Achievements to date—commercial development is concentrated in a few areas rather than scattered up and down Route 2/4, new roads have been built to pull traffic off Route 2/4, water and sewerage treatment facilities have been built and/or expanded and existing roads have improved. Town center parks and amenities have been built. Housing choices have greatly expanded for all ages and incomes. Mixed use development has become or remained a reality. Signs are more attractive and more effective than they used to be. Older buildings are being restored and many newer buildings are designed to be compatible with their older neighboring buildings. Commercial buildings are attractive and provide convenience goods and services.”
The current, plodding process of revising the town center master plans has one commissioner concerned about an unintended adverse impact. “I think it’s unfair to say ‘wait until we update the master plan,’ ” said Commissioner Evan K. Slaughenhoupt Jr. [R].
Each town center master plan is codified through a corresponding town center zoning ordinance. Commissioner Gerald W. “Jerry” Clark [R] stated he did not want to “tinker with the zoning.”
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