Leonardtown, MD — With the work on the Lexington Park Development District Master Plan winding down, the St. Mary’s County Department of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM) is preparing to begin work on a plan for the north county town centers. The Commissioners of St. Mary’s County approved a delay on a decision on the Lexington Park master plan until early March at which time LUGM is expected to begin work on the long-delayed north county plan.

Phil Shire, LUGM director, presented a process for north county planning at the commissioners’ Dec. 15 meeting. Planning will include the Charlotte Hall, New Market and Mechanicsville town centers and Chaptico and Loveville villages. Golden Beach will also be included in the plans.

The process is expected to be controversial. When the commissioners last talked about the north county plan it was more than two years ago before the current board was installed. A public forum at the North County Senior Center drew a standing-room-only crowd that divided along the lines of anti-and pro-development.

Before that public forum, the former commissioner board voted to limit the scope of the planning process to just the Route 5 corridor in Charlotte Hall. That move led by former commissioner Larry Jarboe was out of fear that a more comprehensive planning process would encourage more residential development in the area. He said the residents now there are fed up with traffic congestion and didn’t want any more residential development.

Shire told The BayNet that the new commissioner board directed him to study the entire area and not just what was narrowly encompassed in the former board’s motion.

Shire assured the commissioners at the Dec. 15 meeting that the planning process was not about more residential development. “That is a big monster that doesn’t exist anymore,” Shire said, He emphasized instead the need for a transportation plan to relieve the congestion, perhaps with a new parallel road to Route 5.

But Shire also said that looking at the sewer capacity needs for the area for commercial development would also be part of the process. That can be assured to create heartburn among the anti-residential-development residents who fear that if water and sewer comes then residential development to pay for it can’t be far behind.

Commissioners Mike Hewitt (R – 2nd District] told Shire, “This needs to be well-advertised. People up there are very nervous about this.” Hewitt said a distinction needed to be made between commercial and residential development. “That’s what this plan is all about,” Shire responded.

Shire, in a Power Point presentation, said the planning process included:
* Develop and present findings to the Planning Commission regarding:
* Sewage disposal (soil limitations have been found)
* Development capacity (analysis by the Maryland Department of Planning underway)
* Traffic Capacity (a Request for Proposals for a traffic consultant will be issued)
* Implications of historic and cultural resources.
* Conduct community brainstorming sessions to understand and address community needs and desires in light of those findings
* Seek Commissioners of St. Mary’s County direction for next steps.

Included in the potential next steps, according to Shire, are the “Planning Commission, with staff support, to develop a realistic preliminary concept plan to guide residential and non-residential growth in the North County Town Center (NCTC) based on findings and community expectations.”

After that, planning commission and county commissioner public hearings would be held and decisions made to revise and adopt the plan.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com