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| Attendees began arriving early for the much debated permitting process for the Cross County Connector |
In an earlier story on TheBAYNET.com it stated that after 16 years, the proposed four-lane widening and straightening extension to Billingsly Road, dubbed the Cross County Connector has been in the construction phase in an on-again, off-again way since 1998.
On Thursday, July 31, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in conjunction with the Maryland Department of the Environment held a final public hearing before deciding whether or not to issue the necessary permits to Charles County to finish the final three phases of the much debated cross county connector road.
It was apparent, early that the hearing was bound for a long road of testimony and acrimony. After learning that 153 speakers had signed up to speak, the 7 p.m. hearing moderator, USACE’s Meg Gaffney-Smith notified the audience that each speaker would be limited to only 3 minutes to much rumbling throughout the crowd of 350 plus.
Attending was a mixture of pro-connector citizens and “save Mattawoman Creek” enthusiasts. After the first 10 speakers it was apparent, based upon boisterous cheering and polite applause, that the “SMC”s out numbered connector proponents almost two to one.
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| The sign-up list grew to 153 speakers. |
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District has been the main permitting agency in charge of the process. According to project lead, Steven Harmon, “We get involved once there is an application for a construction permit. This project has been divided up into a series of construction phases.”
Harmon went on to state that Phases one through four are complete and that each phase was constructed under a separate application and permitting process. “The application and permitting process is the same for the remaining three phases as it was for the first four phases,” said Harmon. “We take input from the applicant, the public and other interested parties and base our decision to permit on their input.”
“Our criteria for permitting is based upon the Federal Regulatory Environment Policy and takes into account all the input we receive for each application,” said Harmon.
Charles County Commissioner President, Wayne Cooper stated, “To date, we have already spent over $600,000 on environmental assessment for this project.” He indicated that the main holdup in finishing the process has been the USACE. “They held a hearing about three years ago, but that it had to be redone because of the way the public was notified.”
Cooper went on to say, “We are interested in improving the Mattawoman Creek watershed, not destroying it.” He indicated that currently, the two-lane roadway has no shoulders and the roa