La Plata, MD – The Charles County Comprehensive Plan, after six long years of discussion, dissention and debate, moved one step closer to becoming the county’s framework for the future after the Charles County Commissioners adopted 22 of 24 proposed amendments Tuesday, June 28 in La Plata.
For many, the plan marks a definitive departure from previous such measures in that the environment—including the fragile and important Mattawoman Creek—is protected, while development will be limited in places where it was previously allowed.
Charles County Commissioner Vice President Debra Davis [D] voiced outright opposition to the plan, saying she thought it was important to weigh in on the process for herself.
“This whole planning process has taken years,” Davis added. “There have been 14 meetings, nine experts who participated, 11 land use forum panels; public hearings, there were at least two.
“Up until now, this year, the planning process was supposed to be independent, not political. The planning commission, they were supposed to hand us this. The commissioners were not supposed to be involved.
“Private citizens did not always agree, but that’s what we do in our community, we hear all the views and come up with a decision,” Davis stated. “Somehow it gets a little messy, but that’s what we do in a democracy.
“The citizens do not support a complete rewrite of comp plan, especially at the eleventh hour,” she continued. “Some of the proposals are illegal, ill-advised and shortsighted, set to appease a small segment of our community. I think we can do better, but you get what you get.”
Davis asked for the 1,160 acres placed in Watershed Conservation District by the Charles County Planning Commission to be returned to its previous status where it was a priority funding area, part of Maryland’s Smart Growth initiative.
Commissioner Bobby Rucci [D-District 4], in an effort to restore some future flexibility to the Maryland Airport, suggested that approximately 80 acres to the north and south of the airport be allowed to be used for industrial employment associated with the facility.
He sought to have 50 acres of Chapman Forest included in that proposal.
“The plan recommended by the planning commission has land around the airport as industrial employment uses,” Rucci noted. “One of the proposed amendments is to remove that.
“I’m trying to keep something in for the airport, for future economic development,” he stressed. “You can’t sell the airport without showing something.”
Rucci’s proposed amendment failed, as did Davis’ recommendation for the controversial 1,160 acres.
The environmentalists won the day.
As a result of the approved amendments, Charles County will now designate Bryans Road as a mixed-use area. Commissioner Ken Robinson [D-District 1] said the previous designation would require substantial infrastructure at substantial cost.
“The new designation would promote Indian Head, which is in dire need of such,” he said.
That amendment, placing Bryans Road as proposed in the Merged Scenario, rather than a growth center; the second amendment stating the village should be identified as the area north of Route 210; and the third, applying the Rural Conservation land use designation to Marshall Hall, shifting the zoning from Rural Residential to Tier IV, all passed by 3-2 votes.
“Each of these proposed amendments pretty much shuts down any development in this district,” Davis protested. “It’s my district. I must speak for people from this area who want grocery stores, who want economic development. I just need to make that known for the record.”
“The area is extremely rural,” Robinson interjected. “It’s within the Mt. Vernon scenic view. I don’t think a grocery store would be appropriate.”
The fourth amendment designated Marbury, Rison and Nanjemoy as Tier 4, and the fifth, creating a density of one home per 20 acres in the Watershed Conservation District, brought another rebuke from Davis.
“I must assert at this point my concern that we have become a county of have and have nots when we have a development district and now we will not allow people in this area to buy,” she said. “It’s somewhat of a red lining of our county. I believe there are some unintended consequences that will result.”
“This amendment is strictly to protect the natural resources that exist and should continue to exist in these rural areas,” Robinson noted.
“That this creates this kind of dissention among our citizens is irresponsible,” Davis asserted.
In short, 22 of the 24 amendments passed, either unanimously or by a 3-2 margin, often with President Peter Murphy [D] casting the deciding vote, including a ban on fracking.
The proposal by Commissioner Amanda Stewart [D-District 3] last week to rezone the land use district within the St. Charles Planned Unit Development from residential (with various densities) to Suburban Large Lot (1 unit per acre) for 2,422 acres, became a non-issue when the commissioner withdrew her amendment request.
When Charles County’s populace voted in the last General Election, the power base shifted. Environmentalists whose voices wailed against the maelstrom for years in public hearings suddenly surged to the fore, more rapidly and more unexpectedly than even they could have imagined.
It didn’t hurt that Mattawoman Creek, provider of the county’s annual $1 million dollar bassfishing industry, began to show signs of degradation just as the county’s comprehensive plan was reaching its final stages.
The 180,852 acres now in Tier 4 on the septic tier map, slated for preservation, is one-third more than the other three categories on the map combined.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com