La Plata, MD – Following hours of testimony from residents pro and con—mostly con—to a proposal to add 636 high-rise apartments as part of the Fairway Village at St. Charles, the Charles County Commissioners voted to delay a decision on the issue until the record is left open 30 days for comment at a public hearing Tuesday, June 2.
St. Charles is seeking to rezone parcels at the Village of Wooded Glen and Piney Reach from residential to commercial, and as part of that plan are seeking to build the apartments at Fairway Village instead of those two locations where they were previously planned.
Judging by the throng who turned out for the hearing, those plans did not sit well with residents of Cleveland Park Estates, where Fairway Village would place an eight-story complex right in their back yards.
Matthew Martin of the St. Charles Company, said that the development is governed by a master plan, which is “revised and tweaked from time to time.
“It’s not unusual,” Martin said. “It’s been done a lot of times in the past and will again in the future. Land use trends change and trends on the use of property change.”
The Charles County Planning Commission had already approved the change, he said.
“We’re trying to develop St. Charles as a grocery-anchored commercial center,” he added. “We’ve had grocers approach us. This would be something new for the county, something on the higher end in a site of 50 acres. Before the lot was too big. People didn’t want to develop that. They told us that half of the site was perfect and appropriate for their use.
“What it won’t do, it will not increase the overall size of St. Charles,” Martin stressed. “It will still be 9,200 acres. It will not change the number of units in St. Charles.”
Planner and architect Jay Parker told the commissioners, “We really think that this is exactly what is meant by smart growth: Beautiful green grocery stores, retail and focus development around that, removing some of the apartments. As you get closer to Zekiah Swamp, we want to reduce the density and bring those units up from there and place them around activity nodes. We believe this is smart growth and a real opportunity to improve the sense of place of Fairway Village, put the concentrated compact development up in that area, removing them from sensitive environmental areas.”
But 70 speakers signed up to speak at the hearing and a good many were vehemently opposed to the proposal.
“The vast majority of people in favor of this are the ones that are going to put a buck in their pocket,” said attorney James Farmer. “What they’re there for is to put money in the LLC’s pocket at the expense of taxpayers in Charles County, who pay the highest tax in the state of Maryland.
“We don’t need these high density apartments near Cleveland Park,” he said. “It’s beautiful and pristine. They call it smart growth. They come up with a bunch of smoke and mirrors, a bunch of nonsense. It’s unbridled growth to create a tragedy for these people of Cleveland Park. We have enough problems now with traffic on 301. On any Saturday afternoon it takes you 25 minutes to drive a half mile. We don’t need it for economic development.”
Neil WIlcey of White Plains told the commissioners, “Our property backs up to the service line. We also have pristine woods which mitigate light and noise pollution from the St. Charles Parkway.
“From my observation of the way things are done, every one of those trees is going to be leveled,” he said. “We won’t have any privacy whatsoever. We’ll have people staring at us out of their high-rise windows.”
“None of us would have bought property there if we knew there were going to be apartments there,” said Kevin Bell.
Dave Whittaker, president of the Cleveland Park Homeowners Association, asked, “If this is such a good deal, why didn’t La Plata want it?”
Terry Davis, a real estate agent in Charles County for 34 years, said the quality of life in the county has deteriorated.
“We had lower taxes,” she said. “That’s not true anymore.
“Get the infrastructure, then build it,” Davis said.
Cleveland Park resident Mike Connelly told the board, “I’ve been approached about a fence, a 6-to-8 foot stockade wood fence, 15 feet from my house,” he said. “These apartment units are about 48 feet tall. Please be very considerate of this. Really look down deep at this thing. It goes a lot further than a couple of dollars.”
When realtor Kim Simonsen spoke in favor of the proposed changes, she was booed heartily, which brought a terse response from Charles County Commissioners’ President Peter Murphy [D].
“That kind of behavior will not be tolerated at this public hearing,” Murphy admonished. “This is a public hearing open to everybody. Everyone is entitled to their opinion.”
Kyle Murray of Edgewater called St. Charles “a pivotal asset” to the county.
Margaret Harding felt otherwise.
“Would you want this in your back yard?” she asked the commissioners. “It’s very hard for you to answer because it isn’t happening to you, but it is happening to us.”
“I want to see if this commission will vote in favor of the majority of the people here tonight,” Robert Calvert of White Plains said. “That is how democracy works.”
Sheila Rogers, a resident at The Hermitage, said she felt duped.
“They said they’re moving it away from the swamp.” Rogers quipped. “Put It back there, leave it there and leave us alone.”
“Perhaps those in favor of the amendment should have it built in their back yard,” said Ann Cunningham. “It’s funny, everybody for the project doesn’t live in Charles County.”
“People need to be able to go home and sit in their backyard and have a barbecue where people can’t look down at them,” offered Tiffany Morris.
Alonzo Tate stirred up the coals when he asked, “Are our voices falling on deaf ears? Is this just a format to hear us or are you sincere?”
Commissioner Debra Davis [D – District 2] asked to keep the record open for additional testimony for 30 days. Commissioners Amanda Stewart [D – District 3] and Ken Robinson [D – District 1] voted against that suggestion, saying they wanted to vote on the measure. Murphy ended up casting the tie-breaking vote to keep the record open.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com