Following a work session with county government staff and a joint public hearing with the local planning commission the Calvert County Commissioners approved two text amendments to the Calvert County and Solomons Town Center zoning ordinances. The actions took place Tuesday, July 15.
The first amendment considered adds Employment Center (EC) to the areas where indoor commercial recreational facilities are allowed. According to information from the Department of Community Planning and Building, the EC districts are located just outside of Town Center districts. The granting of permission to create an indoor recreational facility in the EC would be conditional. “The zoning ordinance currently conditionally permits indoor commercial recreation facilities in the Rural Commercial (RC) District and permits or requires a special exception for the use in many of the Town Center zoning subareas,” Department of Community Planning and Building Deputy Director Mary Beth Cook stated in a memo to the commissioners.
The amendment as previously presented, first during the county commissioners’ morning work session and later, during the evening hearing, had proposed to allow a special exception use in the Light Industrial (I-1) District. That proposal met with vocal opposition with two county commissioners.
“I’m fairly opposed to this,” said Commissioner Gerald W. “Jerry” Clark [R], who opined such commercial recreational facilities such as bowling alleys should be in town centers. Clark added he had no problem with such businesses being located in the EC zone.
“They are not compatible uses,” said Commissioner Susan Shaw [R], who expressed concerns about locating a recreational facility for children in proximity to rubble landfills. “We’ve been lucky not to have kids run over by garbage trucks,” said Shaw.
The individual who requested the zoning change did not attend the public hearing. No comments were made by the public regarding the proposal. The five members of the Calvert County Planning Commission present at the meeting voted to recommend the text amendment with the deletion of the I-1 inclusion.
