PRINCE FREDERICK, Md. — As the county looks to update the town centers in Owings, Huntingtown and St. Leonard, residents are invited to provide feedback on the updated master plan.
Long-range planner Tay Harris said the county plans to send out postcards and open a survey online from mid-July to mid-August to collect feedback. Changes include expansions of town centers and potential zoning changes to qualify different areas of the towns as residential, commercial/employment and mixed use. The postcards will go out next week, and residents can keep an eye on social media channels for when the survey goes live. The survey will be open to people who live in ZIP codes associated with the three towns.
Planning Commission members questioned whether Owings should remain a minor town center because it doesn’t have the same “identity” compared to Huntingtown and St. Leonard. The alternative would be to classify Owings Town Center as a “rural commercial district.”
Harris said that Owings is a recognized town center in existing ordinances, and changing the designation would mean revisiting the definition of a town center and analyzing all of the town centers. All three town centers have essentially the same “intent for use,” which is mainly residential and local stores, with some limited warehousing distribution. The question about Owings’ designation will be included in the survey.
The survey will also ask:
- Where participants live
- How long they’ve lived there
- The biggest changes they’ve seen in the last 10 years
- One word for something they love about the town center
- One key element of the town center they’d like to see retained
- The three most important topics to be addressed in the town center update
Harris said she hoped to present the results to the Planning Commission in September or October.
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Calvert gonna be like Waldorf sooner than expected
We don’t need a town center in St. Leonard!! P. Fredrick and Lusby are close by!!!
Moved to Owings 42 years ago. Had a small business and bought a property zoned rural commercial. I happened to be in planning and zoning and saw a county map that indicated my property was town center. I was to that it was changed years before and the county had no obligation to notify me. When I voiced my concern, I was told both zoning designations were the same. When I asked if I could knock down the house and put up a McDonalds, they said absolutely not. I said then they are not the same. The lovely county employee gave me a dirty look and walked away.
Don’t change anything!!!!.I have lived here for almost 30 Years love it the way it is except for the traffic in Price Frederick.