Elected officials in Charles County blasted the Department of Juvenile Services decision to move forward with acquiring land for their Southern Maryland region juvenile detention center on Friday. The plan has caused backlash with residents in the Waldorf area. The location, on Acton Road, would be within a couple miles of three schools and within only a few hundred yards of the White Oak Village community.
“As I told Secretary Sam Abed, first of all, we’ve tried to work this thing through the Charles County Delegation,” State Senator Thomas ‘Mac’ Middleton (D: 28th District) said. “The delegation was on record. I spoke to him personally about how much I thought it was the wrong site. It’s supposed to be a regional facility and the fact that it’s in Waldorf does not meet the description of regional. It’s in the defined area for light rail transit which is the number one priority for the commissioners. It does not make sense to house a facility hosting 60 kids on 30 acres of land where we need to concentrate on density. Citizens opposed it because of perceived impact on schools and facilities nearby.
“I was strongly opposed to it. I asked the secretary to consider other sites. For him to select this site, I’m very disappointed. I’ve talked to one other member of the delegation to call for a review on what went in to the consideration.”
Middleton also said that a location next to an existing facility in Hughesville would have been more appropriate.
“One of my sources said it had never been looked at,” Middleton said. “I’m as opposed to this location now as i was when i met with the citizens.”
“The selection of the Acton Lane site was the culmination of an exhaustive 2 year process where DJS reviewed and evaluated 121 potential sites in Anne Arundel, Charles, Calvert and St. Mary’s Counties,” Jay Cleary, spokesperson for the Department of Juvenile Services, said. “During the past year, Secretary Abed invited the community to suggest potential sites. As a result, DJS considered several sites that had been suggested by local community members and organizations. After measuring each of the 121 sites against DJS’s criteria and needs, the Acton Lane site remained the property that would give DJS the best opportunity to run a safe and successful juvenile facility.”
Charles County Commissioner Vice President Reuben Collins (D), who also represented the district affected, said he was disappointed in the decision.
“I should say im shocked but I shouldn’t be,” Collins said. “The state was committed to that site and I don’t believe they really looked any place else. I actually feel a sense of grief for the residents rather than it being a policy issue I’m not in support of. The residents put together an impressive advocacy effort. It’s unfortunate we so often view one of the basic tenants of democracy being the right to assemble and voice your opinion. I’m hoping many of these residents don’t leave the feeling that ‘no matter what I do, it doesn’t matter’.”