Prince Frederick, MD – The Calvert County Commissioners voted unanimously Tuesday, June 21 to reject a request to send a plan to create a new municipality in the southern end of the county to voters in the area. The proposed Calvert Shores municipality would include portions of the Chesapeake Ranch Estates (CRE) community and the Lusby Town Center. The board also voted to give the proponents of the plan 91 days to petition property owners within the proposed city limits for a public hearing on the proposal. The proponents would need support from 25 percent of the property owners for that to happen.
Commissioners cited concerns about taxes, road maintenance and law enforcement plus the potential for annexation into areas not in favor of the municipality as reasons for rejection.
In a memo from County Administrator Terry Shannon, the plan was summarized as one that could decrease the county’s tax revenue by as much as $4 million. The formation of a municipality would also mean the Special Tax District (STD) currently used by CRE for road improvements would no longer be an option and would mean residents could not get state and federal disaster funds. “Having an active STD provides them access to Federal Emergency Management Administration and Maryland Emergency Management Administration funds in the event of natural disasters,” Shannon stated. She added that “it does not appear that the Lusby business community has been given adequate information. In discussion with many business owners, they appear to be largely unaware of what is being proposed and the potential impact, good or bad, that an incorporated Lusby would have.”
Commissioner Pat Nutter [R – District 2] stated the proposal to establish a municipality within Lusby has resulted in “questions unanswered.” Nutter added that the proponents living in CRE want county government “to pay for their roads.” He added that “someone has to put up the money” to provide for law enforcement.
“The roads are a lot better with STDs,” said Commissioner Mike Hart [R – District 1], a Lusby resident. “I wish I could get to the heartbeat of what everybody wants.” Hart, who also owns a liquor store in Lusby, declared that members of the business community “are on the fringe” and already over-taxed.
Commissioner Tom Hejl [R – At Large] said he thought the town’s proposed debt limit “is unsustainable and out of reach.”
Prior to the vote, during the meeting’s public comment segment, four CRE residents spoke in favor of putting the issue on the November ballot. One of the speakers, Bernard Wunder, called Lusby “a population center in need of local government.”
Cathy Zumbrun, a member of the Calvert Shores Organizing Committee (CSOC), expressed disappointment that the county commissioners declined to meet with committee members and voiced “strong objections to staff reports.
Bob Biersner, another CSOC member, said the utilities serving segments of the proposed new incorporated town would remain in their current form.
One speaker, Anita Jones, a St. Leonard resident who owns a CRE parcel not contained within the proposed boundary, urged the board to reject the request.
As a result of the board’s vote, the Calvert Shores issue would not likely come up again until September.
Contact Marty Madden at marty.madden@thebaynet.com