LEONARDTOWN, Md. – During their May 6, 2024, meeting, the St. Mary’s County Planning Commission approved the concept site plan for the Medstar Shah Bean Medical Center Expansion Development, located at 24035 Three Notch Road in Hollywood.
The plan was approved with the following conditions including any road improvement (s) required by the state and county must be concurrent with the issuance of Certificate of Occupancy and additional 81 parking spaces will be mitigated by 16,200 Sq. Ft. additional landscaping.
Plans originally were presented to the Planning Commission on April 22. However, due to traffic concerns and the need for more clarity from a Traffic Consultant, the project was continued to their May 6th meeting.
The project includes a brand new two-story 53,994 sq. ft. Outpatient Care Center that will include parking lot expansions behind the existing building. The building will include 9 exam rooms, an infusion suite, 12 infusion bays, 3 providers, and a blood drawing area. The facility will also house an orthopedic clinic, surgical/medical specialties, and 25 exam rooms.
Several Commission Members expressed traffic concerns such as the intersections at 235/St. Johns, 235/Airport View, and 235/Bean Center. Commission Members also presented the possibility of adding an acceleration lane onto Northbound 235. However, according to the State Highway Administration (SHA), they deemed the acceleration lane unnecessary.
During the May 6th meeting, a traffic consultant for the project presented that the SHA reviewed and approved the Traffic Impact Analysis (TIA). The intersection also met sight distance and design requirements.
“The County reached out numerous times to the SHA and the SHA has reiterated that the study is approved and meets SHA Guidelines, and no further review is necessary,” as stated in the presentation from Lenhart Traffic Consulting.
The Commissioners also held a public testimony period regarding the project. The first testimony was from Troy Cowen of Lexington Park. Cowen favored the project, praising many of the upsides he believed the project would bring to the county.
“I think it’s good for the county. It’s good for the economics of the county. It’s good for the public health care of the county. It will be a business development center in many ways for the county. I fully support it,” stated Cowen.
The next testimony was from Merle Evans of Tall Timbers. Evans stated while he isn’t in favor or opposition to the project, he does have major concerns when it comes to traffic.
“I think it’s good for the county, I think it’ll be helpful for the county. That said, this is a dangerous intersection. It’s not the only dangerous intersection in St. Mary’s County. The state has created a 25-mile racetrack,” said Evans.
“I think the real issue, first of all, understand that a couple of weeks ago, all of us sat here and said the project itself was great. The real issue was that intersection. And with your being here tonight, and if you will, taking some of my grilling as well as some of the other questions, you know, it’s been most helpful in I think revealing to the public and I, I have no objections to, you know, being in the positive here,” stated Commission Member John Brown.
“I think Mr. Evans is absolutely right in his comments that we really do need to somehow, some way, get more involved in interactions with the state and the highway to figure out what we can do with some of our safety initiatives, like we were briefed on last time and how that can be applied to the state highways in our county. But as far as this one is concerned, no problem.”
A motion was made by Lynn Delahay and was seconded by Brown to approve the concept site plan. The motion passed unanimously.
To watch the full meeting, click here.
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Here is an idea. Like FDR Blvd, make an access road behind the building that connects to St. John’s Rd where there is already a traffic light. Improve Sandy Bottom Road and call it a day. Same needs to be done in Charlotte Hall. Run a service road from Rt. 6 behind all the ‘new’ development that connects up to the service road where Arby’s is. Traffic mitigation is simple if you get people with real solutions involved. Cut off all the access points on 5 and call it a day.
Too bad it’s MedStar though. The Cracker Barrel of medical services 🙂
I, probably like many others, are wondering why this article doesn’t elaborate on what will actually be done to make that intersection safe and effective. Is SHA saying that nothing needs to be done? It wouldn’t surprise me.