In recent weeks, a letter campaign has been afoot, criticizing St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners and two local developers, The Bay Net learned from official records.

The letters question not only the property rights of two local developers, Guy Curley and John Parlett, but also target the entire Board of County Commissioners for a decision one commissioner claims they have not yet made.

Leonardtown Councilman Thomas Collier initiated a dozen ditto letters of protest sent to the commissioners. Commissioner Dan Raley (D. Great Mills) told The Bay Net Collier was gravely misinformed and the letter was “poorly drafted.”

On Tuesday, as former county attorney John Norris sat in the back of the room, judiciously studying the proceedings of the Board of County Commissioners, Land Use and Growth Management Director Denis Canavan made an impassioned plea to the commissioners to adopt the recommendation of his department.

The source of contention? The Navy’s has requested no new housing be allowed in the APZ-2 as the aircrafts, like the Joint Strike Force, get bigger and heavier and the associated noise pollution gets louder.

“The staff reviewed the appropriate zoning maps and determined there are approximately 1,100 acres covered by the APZ-2 Zone,” Canavan reported to the commissioners. He pointed out there are approximately 700 dwelling units in the APZ-2.

Though the Navy’s main concern is residential uses, as many as ten zoning districts fall within the APZ-2, Canavan’s report showed. The report provides the categorizations and break-up of acreage in each of the different districts as follows:

 
John Norris, former St. Mary’s County Attorney, silences his cell phone as commissioners deliberate on Canavan recommendation.

RPD (Rural Preservation District) 38.4 acres

RL (Residential, Low Density District) 495.3 acres

RH (Residential High Density) 6.9 acres

RNC (Residential Neighborhood Conservation District) 73.7 acres

RMX (Residential Mix Use District) 9.4 acres

DMX (Downtown Mixed Use District) 146 acres

CMX (Corridor Mixed Use District) 4.6 acres

CC (Corridor Commercial District) 0.2 acres

OBP (Office Business Park District) 273 acres

I (Industrial District) 8.6 acres

The 700 homes are primarily located in the subdivisions of Essex South, Emerald Hills, Southampton, Forest Heights, Patuxent Park, Greens at Hilton Run and Southwoods and “with scattered family homes that are not within recorded subdivisions.”

In one of the subdivisions the county laws do not apply, Canavan’s report bared. “A single subdivision known as Glen Forest is on land owned by the Federal Government and is exempt from zoning regulations.”

“Staff notes that the Board of County Commissioners has authorized staff to prepare a text amendment that would provide for residential uses in the OBP Zone,” Canavan’s report states.

In fact, this is the main bone of contention, inciting the flurry of letters opposing