Writer’s Note: The April 1 joint public hearing with the Calvert County Board of County Commissioners and Calvert County Planning Commission that was scheduled to discuss proposed changes to the Huntingtown Master Plan and Zoning Ordinance has been canceled. Written public comments on the issue will continue to be accepted until 4:30 p.m. April 1, the date for which the meeting was originally scheduled. Any written public comments will be held in the public record. The applicant who initiated the proposed amendments to the master plan and ordinance requested the amendments be deferred. For more information about the Calvert County Department of Community Planning and Building, call 410-535-1600, ext. 2356. Previous references to the now cancelled public hearing have been redacted from the original story.
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Will the Huntingtown Town Center continue to be an area with only scattershot commercial development or become a more available business location? That would appear to be the jackpot question that will be answered when a decision is made on a request from a local business owner to have the burden of providing a long buffer area on his property.
An informational meeting on the request submitted by the owner of Oldtown Automobile and Truck Sales Inc. was held Wednesday, March 26 at Huntingtown High School (HHS). Approximately 70 residents attended. Also in the audience were all five county commissioners and members of the planning commission.
“We didn’t realize this was going to engender so much interest from the public,” said Mark Davis, attorney for the business owner. Davis contends the county government made a mistake when it revised the Huntingtown Town Center Master Plan in 2011. The plan was revised to remove the reservation of a parcel to extend Hunting Creek Road to Route 2/4. A long-range plan to build an overpass connecting east and west Huntingtown was also removed. Oldtown’s request is “to modify the extent and location” of a 100-foot buffer. In a letter to the county commissioners last May, Davis stated “such a change would eliminate an artificial obstacle to any further development of Oldtown’s property and would be entirely consistent with the original intent of the Huntingtown Master Plan.”
The commissioners requested options and were given three to consider. When the Calvert County Planning Commission met in September to conduct a work session on the issue, one of the options was eliminated. In December, a no change option was added and a proposal from the Huntingtown Architectural Review Committee was included as an option.
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