La Plata, MD – Did the Charles County Planning Commission do the right thing?
At its Monday, Feb. 8 meeting, the board voted to include 1,160 acres designated Tier 3 in the county’s proposed Comprehensive Plan into Watershed Conservation District, placing it into Tier 4 and changing its zoning status of one unit per acre to one unit per 10 acres.
But Monday, Feb. 23, Planning Commission Member Robin Barnes, who voted in favor of the proposal, sought to have the board reconsider the issue, citing new information that a school was planned for that tract of land.
The board voted 4-3 to reconsider the decision, but Charles County Planning Director Steve Ball said the vote actually failed, because it needed two-thirds of the majority for reconsideration.
“You needed five ‘yeas’ and you only got four,” he said.
That prompted some interesting discussion.
“I’m surprised to hear there was a school planned for that area,” Planning Commission Member Joan Jones said. “From what I’m hearing, it had been planned for a while.”
“Staff advised us not to put those 1,100 acres in the Watershed Conservation District,” Board Member Wayne Magoon noted.
“If there are plans for a school and 1,160 acres have been put in the Watershed Conservation District, what does that do for the people who are planning for an elementary school which we all agree is needed?” Jones asked.
“We will be able to give you more information at our next meeting,” Ball said. He added that a public hearing would not be needed on the issue and that the motion which passed at the Feb. 8 meeting would now become an amendment to the proposed comprehensive plan.
“The county commissioners will make the final decision,” he stressed.
Jones asked if the 1,160 acres were part of the Mattawoman Creek wateshed and was told they were not.
“They are part of the Port Tobacco River headwaters, which is also has environmental issues,” Member Nancy Schertler said.
“But not the Mattawoman,” Jones said.
“That was the vote,” Schertler replied. “I don’t think we made a mistake. Citizens spoke out at public hearings about placing that property in the Watershed Conservation District. They also made comments about the sensitive nature of the area.”
Jones got a bit testy in her response, telling Schertler, “When I hear that a school was being planned and I was not given that information prior to our discussion, I have a right to ask the question.”
“We are going to have a problem with that [decision],” Board Member Wayne Magoon noted. “If they intend to put a school there, you’re not going to be able to run sewer in there.”
Ball said that might not be the case, but he would have more information at the board’s next meeting.
Charles County Attorney Elizabeth Theobolds said that the county commissioners would have the final say on what the final comprehensive plan will look like.
“What we’ve done here is not the final word,” she said.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com
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