A community task force, after taking a “windshield tour” of St. Mary’s County, has identified at least four neighborhoods where unseemly housing conditions prevail, the Board of County Commissioners were told Tuesday.

 
Robin Finnacom, left, Barbara Thompson and Jack Candela of the Workforce Housing Conditions Task Force present their findings to the St. Mary’s County Commissioners.

However, Robin Finnacom, presenter of the Workforce Housing Conditions Task Force report refused to identify which neighborhoods they were, saying she was not interested in making news headlines.

The Workforce Housing Conditions Task Force showed that two of the neighborhoods were even worse than the blighted Lexington Park neighborhood of Southampton.

“Of the four wherein distress was observed, two were classified as showing ‘Concern for Distress,’ one was noted as showing ‘Extreme Distress’ and one was showing as ‘Severe Distress,’” Finnacom told the commissioners.

One of the main findings of the 21-person group was that the majority of working families living in St. Mary’s can not fulfill their American dream of owning a roof over their head. Those that manage are forced to buy in the county’s older, declining neighborhoods.

At least one neighborhood was noted as showing “severe distress,” Finnacom said. She said public road throughout the neighborhood were found to be in the worst condition, adding, “Curbs, gutters and sidewalks were also deteriorated throughout the neighborhood. Several storm drain openings were deteriorated. In some instances, overhead utilities were rusted and unsightly. Illegal dumping along the community’s wooded border is severe…”

A third aging neighborhood, right on the waterfront, is also showing signs of extreme distress, Finnacom read from the task force report.

“Road conditions are badly deteriorated. Recreational common areas are blighted and appear in some instances to be wholly abandoned. Several homes were vacant and showed such lack of care as to also appear to be abandoned. All roads and facilities throughout the neighborhood are private,” she said.

At least two other neighborhoods showed, what the task force called, “Concern for Distress.”

Finnacom, reading from the task force report, said, “The first neighborhood is the victim of large amounts of illegal dumping in the alleyways and along the edges of the neighborhood.”

She said, “Another concern for this particular neighborhood is the condition of the nearby roads for public utility access located near the entrance of the community. It is a roughed-in, dirt road lined with piping stacked as if merely stored along the edge of the dirt road.”

Without mentioning Southampton by name, Finnacom said, “The second neighborhood also noted as showing ‘Concern for Distress’ is victim of a deteriorated and vacant government-owned property.”

–>