The building for the new Cow and Fish restaurant is undergoing renovation. Photo by Ron Bailey.

Hollywood, MD — Several new restaurants will be opening soon to fill vacant buildings in St. Mary’s County. One of those buildings at 25188 Three Notch Road has been vacant for several years. The Cow and the Fish cleared a major hurdle Thursday, Sept. 10 when the St. Mary’s Alcohol Beverage Board (liquor board) approved it for a restaurant beer, wine and liquor license.

Michael Chance and his wife Sylvia, who live in Bushwood, plan to convert the vacant building into what he told the liquor board would be an upscale restaurant with table cloths and fine wine. Chance has 25 years experience as a chef.

The building started in the 1960s as a summer ice cream stand but evolved into a general store and then a series of restaurants, including Italian and seafood. All failed. The big hang-up for the location has always been its lack of parking.

Chance told the liquor board that he would have 22 parking spaces beside the restaurant and additional overflow parking at an off-site location on the opposite side of Route 235. Valet parking would be provided. That extra parking would be available for the once-a-month wine paring event in addition to other busy times.

But it was the parking and traffic flow that caused the next door neighbor Virginia Wood and her two sons, Glenn and Kenneth, to protest the application. The sons live in the county but farther away from the restaurant, although Glenn Wood said he also representing Harold Herndon, a former liquor board member who lives near the restaurant.

“We feel an alcohol license is not appropriate for that facility,” Glenn Wood said. He added that even though the applicant had insisted he would prohibit parking in front of the building along Route 235, he said he was informed by the Maryland State Police they could do nothing to enforce parking until the vehicle was there for more than 24 hours.

The access to the restaurant is also the access to an apartment building to the rear and all three of the Wood family members said that would create a problem for traffic.

Glenn Wood said there has been a dramatic increase in traffic along that stretch of Route 235 since the time the original ice cream stand opened. He also said the site distance coming out of the restaurant’s parking lot was poor. But board chairman Moses Saldana, who lives in the neighborhood, said he was not aware of any accidents at that location.

Kenneth Wood said there was a kind of circular reasoning among various government agencies that led to the conclusion that parking wasn’t a problem for the business, but he said the liquor board could take that issue into consideration in making their decision.

Virginia Wood was especially perturbed that Chance had not talked to her about his project until she had submitted a written protest against it. Chance apologized to her for not doing so. Saldana told Chance, “I hope you will be a considerate neighbor.” Chance responded that he would.

Although the license unanimously granted to the new business allows for the serving of beer, wine and liquor, Chance said he had no plans to serve liquor. The protesters insisted, however, that the license did give him carte blanche to do so in the future.

The approval of the license was contingent on final sign offs by the fire marshal and health department and also securing a certificate of Use and Occupancy from the Department of Land Use and Growth Management. The building is still being renovated, so the approval was for 90 days contingent on the other agency okays.

The Cow and Fish is only one of several new restaurants coming to the area that will take over vacant buildings. The St. Mary’s County Department of Economic Development reports the following activity:

• A Dairy Queen is going into the former Arby’s on Great Mills Road in Lexington Park.
• A new “seafood and burgers” eatery called Pax Landing Restaurant will occupy the former Coco Cantina on Three Notch Road in Lexington Park.
• Heritage Chocolates is taking over part of the building on the square in Leonardtown that started its life as Sparling’s Department Store and later was the home to an engineering services company.
• Tobacco Barn Distillery on Hollywood Road will be occupying a converted tobacco barn and be opening later this year.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com