La Plata, MD – St. Charles Company was thrown a curve ball by the Charles County Commissioners at their regular meeting Tuesday, June 21 and they didn’t see it coming.
“It was definitely a surprise,” said Craig Renner, vice-president of The St. Charles Companies.
The proposal made by Commissioner Amanda Stewart [D-District 3] came out of left field for the Waldorf developers, who were unprepared for her suggestion to revise the land map use for the southern section of the St. Charles community—a planned neighborhood that has already jumped through hoops on the planning and zoning aspect of that property—from residential to suburban large lot, essentially changing the zoning from high density to one lot per acre.
“I talked last week about wanting to see more of a transition of the Waldorf area to a more rural area,” Stewart said. “I want to use our suburban large lot district designation to support that effort.
“I think this would be a good area for that,” she said.
“Would you like these changes announced tonight at the public hearing?” Charles County Planning Director Steve Ball asked.
“I would think they would have to be,” Stewart said.
When they were, the news brought a rebuke from St. Charles’ Matthew Martin, who called the proposed amendment “ill-advised and we believe illegal.
“The amendment was proposed just hours ago,” he said. “No one spoke to St. Charles Company. We regard it as a violation of good faith. The county commissioners voted unanimously in favor of Docket 90, which laid out the density for those parcels.”
“It’s the backbone of our plan,” Renner said of Docket 90. “This proposal seems to fly in the face of that agreement.”
When asked if the proposed amendment could lead to litigation, Renner deflected that notion.
“Our hope is we will be continuing to work these issues out with the county,” he said.
Charles County Commissioner President Peter Murphy [D] said that each of the proposed amendments for the Comprehensive Plan will come before the board next week to be voted on.
“Those that are accepted will go back to staff,” he said, “Then we will revise the comprehensive plan by July 12. Up to this point they have just been proposed amendments. Next week, they will be actual amendments.”
Another curve ball during the discussion came from Commissioner Bobby Rucci [D-District 4], who sarcastically said the plan is not what he would have it be.
“I want to apologize to the planning commission for all the hard work they did and all the time they spent,” Rucci said. “We’re about to take the plan and do what we’re going to do with it, why are they there for?
“I just want to apologize for what is going to happen to their plan,” he said, “and I want that to be on the record.”
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com