New housing units may be coming to Hollywood in the near future, but hurdles need to be cleared before that can happen.
The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission heard plans Monday night of a proposed 18 townhomes that are slated to be built between Route 235 and Mervell Dean Road near Clark’s Mill Road. Five of the units are slated to be for “workforce housing.” The property is located at 44410 K & R Way.
The board heard that the new units would equate to about 105 average daily trips, and about 10 peak hour trips. Anything less than 50 peak hour trips does not require a traffic study.
But the proposal ran into a few snags, the biggest of which is a proposed 32.5-foot buffer at the southern end of a property, which abuts a property with a vacant building.
“We propose and contend that a half of a type B buffer yard would be applied here in citing the southern property adjacent to ours as being vacant and unit being a single-family dwelling,” planning board member John Brown said.
“The county disagrees with the applicants on the buffer yard,” Deputy County Attorney John Houser said. “Where it comes down to is a buffer yard is required when a high-intensity residential use comes in next to” a low-intensity residential use.
He added that the county’s land use and growth management department looks at the house sitting on the adjoining property as “abandoned, but not vacant for purposes of the ordinance.”
The commission also expressed doubts about the lack of sidewalks for any school children living there and a lack of overflow parking as each unit is afforded just two spaces, including one in a garage.
During a public forum, Hollywood resident Mildred Garner expressed some of the same concerns and asked if the units would be low-income housing, to which she was told no and that they would go for market price.
The planning commission voted for a continuation to May 20, but did amend the water service category from W-6D (service in 6-10 years) to W-3D (service in 3-5 years) for the 27,023-square-foot lot.
Capital budget gets nodThe planning board also approved the fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2026-2030 Capital Improvement Budget and Request Plan as being consistent with the county’s comprehensive plan.
The board received a packet with 66 projects for highways, land conservation, public facilities, recreation and parks, public landings, solid waste and schools. Thirteen of the projects are new for fiscal 2025.
The total of the fiscal 2025 projects is $74.1 million, lower than the $84.9 million that was budgeted.
“So that’s something exciting that we decreased,” Chief Financial Officer Jeannett Cudmore said.
Department of Public Works and Transportation Director Jim Gotsch spoke about a four-way intersection at Route 4 and Wildewood Parkway.
“It’s so hard to get into those parking lots in the daytime so what we’re proposing is a fourth leg to the intersection which would extend Wildewood Parkway across to Route 4,” he said, referring to businesses on the southwest corner. “That should improve traffic and the intersection.”
Member Joe Van Kirk asked Gotsch about the boat ramp at Snow Hill, which Van Kirk said, “I seem to ask you every day for the last 24 years.”
Gotsch said his department is making “very good progress” and added plans should be ready later this month. He also said the playground and pavilion is scheduled to be put in this spring.
MetCom gets thumbs up
The commission also approved the fiscal 2025 to fiscal 2030 St. Mary’s County Metropolitan Commission’s capital improvement plan and budget.
MetCom Executive Director George Erichsen said the average debt over the next six years is about $119 million, below a self-imposed cap of $120 million.
“We have no intentions of going over our cap,” Erichsen said. “You never know when there is a catastrophic failure, so we need to have that legislative authority to get right on the project. There won’t be time if something like that were to happen, so we’re going to keep that buffer pretty much in perpetuity.”
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