St. Mary’s County Director of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM) Phil Shire answered a question from the audience at the Charlotte Hall Library as Grace Mary Brady of the LUGM staff looks on.

Charlotte Hall, MD — St. Mary’s County Director of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM) Phil Shire predicted the idea of a parallel road in Charlotte Hall wouldn’t be controversial. Judging from comments at the first public meeting on the road he was wrong.

The first public meeting May 18 at the Charlotte Hall Library was intended to be a brief introduction to the subject and then to give attendees time to view maps of potential road alignments and present their thoughts on alternatives.

Instead, after the introductory presentation, members of the packed house began a barrage of questions of the consultant and LUGM staff and wouldn’t let up. They questioned the need for the road at all, asked what its purpose was, and in general said they didn’t want their community to become like Waldorf or for that matter Lexington Park.

Grace Mary Brady of the LUGM staff and consultant Heidi Van Luven of AMT consultants explained that the concept was a two-lane road parallel and to the east of Route 5 extending 2.4 miles from Mohawk Drive to Route 6. But speaker after speaker expressed concern about the traffic that would occur on Mohawk Drive and Route 6, especially considering the latter’s school and park

One speaker said that all the parallel road would do was shift the problem instead of alleviating it.

At one point, developer and civic leader John Parlett explained that the road was intended for local use and not as a bypass. By diverting traffic using the shopping areas to that road it would take traffic off Route 5. Parlett has constructed part of what would become the parallel road.

Parlett said he still had hopes that St, Mary’s could embrace what Calvert County did 20 years ago in creating town centers off Routes 2/4, leaving that free for through traffic. He said Charlotte Hall could still be like that.

Van Luven said her firm would be conducting a traffic analysis at the Golden Beach Road and Route 6 intersections to supplement what has already been done by the State Highway Administration along the corridor. But when she said the studies would-be done in the middle of the week, she was informed that would miss the heavy traffic on Saturdays with shopping and the Farmers Market.

The May 18 meeting was the kickoff of a series of monthly meetings on the North County Master Plan. The parallel road is the first topic of the planning process, which also will later include the explosive topic of public water and sewer versus wells and septic systems. Residents fear public water and sewer will open the area up to additional residential development and force them to make costly connections.

Brady explained that the future meetings will be at the commissioners’ meeting room in Leonardtown. That drew criticism from meeting attendees who wanted something closer to home. Brady said the library closed at 8 and other larger venues were not available. But she said she would pursue several other suggestions brought up at the meeting.

The day before the public meeting the county commissioners received a briefing on the parallel road from Shire and Brady. At that briefing Commissioner Mike Hewitt [R – 2nd Distrct] warned, “You have to be very careful. Those people (in the north county) are very nervous.”

Shire explained to the commissioners that the previous board had to wave some adequate public facility requirements to alleviate a “virtual moratorium” and allow some limited, small commercial development. Residents in the area have said that they want more commercial development.

But not too much, Commissioner John O’Connor [R – 3rd District] suggested as he asked out loud, “Are we going to become Lexington Park north?”

Based on O’Connor’s concerns, the commissioners delayed a land transaction for a new water tower in Charlotte Hall. O’Connor said the St. Mary’s Metropolitan Commission (MetCom) hadn’t proven the need for the tower for fire suppression. MetCom will be asked to come in and defend the new tower.

The nervousness described by Commissioner Hewitt was expressed as skepticism by many of the residents who attended the May 18 meeting. They feel there is an unstated, underlying agenda, such as central water and sewer, that is at play with the beginning of the master plan process.

Shire assured them that was not the case. If anything, he said, the plan was intended to protect what the area now has.

Contact Dick Myers at dick.myers@thebaynet.com