On Friday, the Board of Trustees of St. Mary’s College of Maryland (SMCM) convened a special meeting of the Committee on Buildings and Grounds to receive the report of the “4-Cs” Ad Hoc Advisory Committee.

The “4-Cs” reached consensus on a variety of issues but were not able to reach consensus to either recommend that the newly-constructed Rowing Center remain at its current location or be moved to another site.

The College Trustees’ Buildings and Grounds Committee will begin its analysis of the information presented and will report to the full Board of Trustees at its Dec. 1 meeting.

One of the issues upon which the 4-Cs reached consensus was that the College undertake a long range land-use study of how to best integrate the waterfront area with land-use plans for the entire historic triangle (area south of Route 5). In addition to consulting with Historic St. Mary’s City and neighboring Trinity Church, the 4-Cs encouraged the College to include opportunities for public input in the planning process.

The “4-Cs” ad-hoc advisory committee includes representatives from the community, city, church and college. The group consists of seven local community members, three College staff, four students, two representatives from Trinity Church, and two representatives from Historic St. Mary’s City. 

Other specific recommendations that the “4-Cs” committee made to the Board of Trustees included: 1) Waterfront access and facilities in the general location of the previous College boathouse are both necessary to support College and community water-related programs.  2) Relocation of the Trinity Church Road intersection with Route 5 to an alternative location would improve safety for pedestrians and motorists, and  3) Burying utility lines along Route 5 from Fisher’s Creek to Mattapany Road and along Trinity Church Road would improve the viewshed for all stakeholders.

While the December meeting of the Board of Trustees will address the issue of whether or not to move the Rowing Center, construction of the College’s River Center will proceed. The River Center is built on the footprint of the previous boathouse and has no impact on the viewscape from Route 5.

The full report of the 4-Cs committee is available on the College’s home page  www.smcm.edu under News: Waterfront Improvement Project.