WHITE PLAINS, Md. — For more than five decades, the land off a quiet White Plains road was home to Jennifer Conn and her family. On Monday, May 18, the Charles County Planning Commission approved a request allowing the property to finally be sold outside the family.
The request centered on a deed restriction placed on the property in 1998 through an intrafamily transfer agreement that prevented the land from being sold outside the family without county approval. But during Monday’s discussion, the conversation became less about zoning language and more about how much the White Plains area has changed since the family first built their home there.
How The Restriction Came To Be
During the meeting, homeowner Jennifer Conn told commissioners the restriction was added when the family appeared before county boards in 1998 seeking approval to build the home. The lot was the eighth created on the property — beyond the five-lot limit typically allowed under the county’s intrafamily transfer provision — requiring special approval from the county.
That approval came with a condition: the property could only be transferred to immediate family members and could not be sold outside the family without Planning Commission approval.
Conn explained that other homes connected to the family land had gradually changed hands over the years as relatives moved away, but her property remained tied to the original restriction.
She and her husband built the home there as young adults, never expecting they would one day need county approval simply to leave the place they had always considered home.
Ready To Retire, Ready To Move On
Commissioners asked the family what led them to seek removal of the restriction now. For a couple who had spent most of their adult lives on the property, the answer came quickly — they were ready to retire and leave behind an area that no longer resembled the quiet White Plains community where they first built their home.
Her husband, Jonathon Conn, described how dramatically the area had changed over the years, recalling a time before St. Charles Parkway, before the surrounding housing growth and before nearby development reshaped the landscape around the family land.
“When I came back and we were dating back in the day, we could take a golf cart over to the golf course,” he told commissioners. “There was no parkway, no houses, no neighbors around. It was a different place back then.”
Jennifer Conn added that she has lived on the property her entire life and that much of the surrounding development did not exist when they first settled there.
“Back then it was very different,” Conn said.
Growth That Closed In
The couple also referenced newer development near the property, including an elementary school now visible through the woods from their home.
In a letter submitted to the county as part of the application, the Conns cited increased traffic and road noise from the extension of St. Charles Parkway, additional housing growth, nearby zoning changes and uncertainty surrounding future development on adjacent land. They wrote that what was once “a quiet and peaceful area surrounded by woods” had gradually become busier and louder over the years as development spread through the White Plains corridor.
The letter also noted that their children have moved away from the area and do not plan to return to purchase the home in the future.
When asked whether other family members had concerns about selling the property, Jennifer Conn told commissioners her mother — who remains listed on the deed and still lives on the family land — supported the decision, even if it was emotional.
“She doesn’t want her daughter to leave,” Jonathon Conn said.
In her letter to the county, Conn reflected on spending her entire 52 years on the family property in Charles County and raising her children there after building the home with her husband in 1999.
“We had no idea of the meaning of this as young adults building our first home 27 years ago,” Conn wrote of the deed restriction. “However, we appreciate your help in getting this revised so that we can start the next phase of our life.”
The Planning Commission later unanimously approved the request.
Watch the full May 18, 2026, Charles County Planning Commission meeting on CCGTV.
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