The property on Route 235 was posted for the public hearing before the planning commission
The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission has approved a Concept Site Plan for a new-car dealership on Three Notch Road (MD 235) in California. The exact manufacturer that will be represented at the location has yet to be decided, according to Jeff Wanamaker of Wanamaker Properties.
Wanamaker owns four dealerships, Bayside Chevrolet and Toyota in Prince Frederick, Kia of Waldorf and Bayside Nissan of Annapolis. He told the planning commission that he has relationships with Kia, Nissan and Honda and the dealership could be one of those or another. He said he had been holding up securing the dealership until all of the government approvals were secured, including the one from the planning commission. “This process has taken a lot longer than I anticipated,
Wanamaker said of the 18 months it has taken to get to Monday night’s decision.
The commission had delayed a decision for a month to give several agencies a chance to work out issues relating to several rights of way on and near the 6.89 acre site that sits between Hickory Hills Shopping Center and the Plaza Tolteca Mexican restaurant.
At Monday’s commission meeting County Attorney George Sparling and representatives of the Metropolitan Commission (MetCom), Southern Maryland Electric Co-op (SMECO) and the Department of Land Use and Growth Management (LUGM) explained the complicated history of the rights of way in question.
In the end the commission concluded that the only unresolved issues could be resolved by the county commissioners so they made their motion contingent on that happening along with a necessary variance from the Board of Appeals over the front-yard buffer.
Sparling told the planning commission he believed that one of the rights-of-way was wrongly recorded 25 years ago and would have to be resolved by the county commissioners. That error, the commission concluded, wouldn’t impact the two buildings proposed by Wanamaker.
Wanamaker said the buildings would be constructed in two phases. The first building would house the dealership and several service bays. The second would be a larger service facility. Wanamaker said the second would come after sales justified spending the money for a larger facility.
Wanamaker said the design of the new-car dealership would be selected by whichever manufacturer he chooses, since they each have their own design criteria. He said he believed securing a dealership would come “pretty easily” once the requisite approvals have been received.
No one from the public testified at the hearing on Monday night. The planning commission approval came with a 6-0 vote, with member Merl Evans not attending. Evans is a county commissioner candidate and has told the Bay Net that he is resigning from the commission whether he wins or loses in the election next week.