Prince Frederick, MD – With a planned rewrite process scheduled to begin in early 2015, representatives of the Calvert Department of Community Planning and Building updated the county’s planning commission on the provocative Armory Square Project Wednesday, Oct. 15. The plan’s future is closely tied with the intense work that will be done to revise the Calvert County Comprehensive Plan and Zoning Ordinance.

Department of Community Planning and Building Director Thomas Barnett told the commission the rewrite process will be “a year-and-a-half, perhaps two years.”

The vision presented for changes in the Prince Frederick Town Center includes a variety of residential housing. That vision was presented by The Lawrence Group following a week-long charrette during the summer of 2013.

Arguably the most intriguing area targeted for development is the parcel where the old Calvert Middle School (CMS) once stood. The tract includes the nearby Prince Frederick Armory, which remains standing but is currently unoccupied.

According to government data, the county experienced rapid residential growth between 1970 and 2000, with an annual rate as high as 6 percent during the 1980s. In an effort to preserve Calvert’s rural character, a transfer of development rights (TDR) program was started. The aim was to allow rural landowners to sell their development rights, which in turn would be sold to developers to build homes in areas such as town centers where the growth was deemed more desirable.

Last decade Calvert’s growth rate began to decline.

According to the government staff presentation, the TDRs used for density totaled 11,700; the number retired by the county commissioners was 4,500; 100 TDRs were used for forest mitigation and 12,300 TDRs were neither used nor retired.

Barnett indicated that currently the county’s TDR supply exceeds demand due to slowing of growth. The State of Maryland’s controversial “Septic Bill” also poses a problem for the TDR program since it eliminates potential TDR “receiving areas.”

The TDR revision proposal currently on the table creates a sliding scale for the number of dwelling units per acre in proportion with the required number of TDRs within the town centers. At the top of the chart, one up to four dwelling units per acre would require five TDRs. At the lower end, 10 dwelling units per acre would require two TDRs. Barnett stressed this TDR proposal would only be in effect for town centers. “This is a pretty mild reduction,” Barnett said, who later added that the proposal has been shown to members of both the agriculture and development communities.

“We’ve been successful with the brakes [on residential development],” Barnett stated. The department director added that the economic downturn contributed to the slowing of residential growth in Calvert. Additionally, many developers who once constructed houses in Calvert have shifted to locations like Baltimore City.

“I think what’s going on now is pretty good,” said Planning Commission Vice Chairman Mike Phipps of the county’s trend towards slower growth.

“I think it’s a whole lot of other things,” said Planning Commission Chairman Maurice Lusby, who seemed skeptical that the county’s TDR requirement was the main deterrent to added residential growth.

Earlier this month the Calvert County Commissioners gave staff the green light to issue a request for qualifications (RFQ) regarding the Armory Square Project.

“In order to make this [Armory Square Project] happen, we’ve got to find a developer,” said community designer Will Selman, who told the planning commission the RFQ was put out Friday, Oct. 10. “The word has gotten out,” said Selman, who added a national shopping organization has already expressed an interest in the project.

“We think it could be better than the traditional strip mall,” Barnett added.

“Be careful what you give away,” Phipps cautioned.

Barnett opined that, at best, a centralized retail development in Calvert could get a “small piece of the retail and restaurant business locations such as Annapolis and Waldorf are attracting from the county.

Lusby inquired about the aim of the memorandum of understanding forged between the county and the development group BARGO. That group of local businessmen is considering commercially developing property just to the east of the Armory Square Project parcel.

“Our interests coincide,” said Barnett of the pact. “If good things happen we’ll be happy.”

Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com