The Waldorf Citizens Advisory Committee (WCAC) met on Tuesday May 8th at North Point High School. This appointed group of ten Waldorf citizens, developers, county government advisors and others has a say about the way Waldorf develops.
Citizen committee members |
Developers on the WCAC |
Peggy Schaumburg, Site Design |
Amy Blessinger, of the county Department of Planning and Growth Management, led the first presentation and took questions about building design and layout principles, the way things are supposed to be built to fit into a community well.
Some of the committee feel Waldorf is ugly.
Blessinger explained the town’s unappealing aesthetics is the result of previous development rules that were less focused on architecture and appearance. The Commissioners appointed a Site Design and Architectural Review Board (SDARB) in 2003 to increase the visual attractiveness of Waldorf.
The Target store in Waldorf is one example of the change in policy and attitude. Target submitted plans for their new addition to the Review Board four times before their addition was approved. Anybody who remembers the old Target may recall a long, flat-roofed box. When Target wanted to add additional square footage the SDARB stepped in to prohibit more lengths of straight flat wall and blank sides. They insisted that the store walls bump in or out every so often, there had to be windows or the appearance of windows, and the façade includes other items of visual interest to keep it from a large, over-scaled box appearance.
Large, flat-roofed, boxy buildings with oceans of flat parking lot repeated throughout Waldorf and St. Charles do not create a charming town environment. Neither do buildings with nice fronts, but boxy plain sides, like restaurants plopped into shopping center parking lots. Such buildings must now be attractive on all sides, like the new Chipotle restaurant on Highway 301.
Peggy Schaumburg, of the SDARB, went over their policies to explain who it affects and why. Residential developments have new rules for the homes on corner lots and highly visible elements, like screening around HVAC equipment, creating roof overhang, and placing garages attractively.
Ms. Schaumburg told the committee, “You can’t believe the difference a roof overhang makes.”
Cul-de-sacs are no longer encouraged in Waldorf subdivisions. The SDARB wants more than one entrance or exit to a street for emergencies and neighborhood interconnectedness. There is a certain harkening back to the old days of garages in the back. The Review Board would like to see more alleyways and rear garages like you might find in WWII era homes and row-houses. The concept of Traditional Neighborhood Housing
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