The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission released its 2023 annual report and member John Brown took offense to several items in the 21-page document during the commissions’ June 24 meeting in Leonardtown.
The planning commission must approve an annual report for each calendar year and is filed with the local legislative body and the Maryland Department of Planning. An optional survey was included.
The report showed that 209 residential permits were issued, including 126 within the Priority Funding Area. Land Use and Growth Management Director Jessica S.B. Andritz described a PFA as “a designation that is available for certain existing communities and other communities that meet certain criteria.”
Brown asked about a Section II survey question that asked: “Have all Planning (Commission/Board) and Board of Appeals members completed the Maryland Planning Commissioners Association (MPCA) training course?”
“You say ‘No’ but the question I have is, aren’t all seven of us already qualified for 2023?” Brown asked, and added that members Mike Brown and Lynn Delahay should not be included because they weren’t on the board in 2023. “When I applied for this [position] I sent my resume. Is that your source of information for this?”
Andritz said she would report back to her staff to find out.
Brown also questioned items in the Comprehensive Water and Sewerage Plan Amendments, some of which he said were actually done in 2024.
“What I suspect is that was the date of approval by the planning commission, and so if there are projects in there that have a public hearing date that was in 2024, that was a mistake,” Andritz said, and referenced a Lexington Park property by stating the hearing date was held Nov. 6, 2023, yet the approval and effective date was Jan. 10, 2024. “But you heard the case in 2023, so I believe that was the distinction.”
Brown also queried about the ‘No’ answer for the question: “Does your jurisdiction have a bicycle and pedestrian plan?”
“I guess I was oblivious to the fact that we had a transportation plan and you referenced it in here,” he said, and added the plan included “discussions on trails and pathways and in fact the Three Notch Trail, yet when you addressed it in the report you said we didn’t have a plan for that yet. It seems like it’s part of the transportation plan. Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you have an explanation for why it wasn’t included.”
“There is a 2024 transportation plan that you have not seen yet that is going to the commissioners,” Jim Gotsch, director of the county’s public works and transportation department, said. “There are lot of things I’ve been presenting that are from the plan.”
“I know you’re doing sidewalks and there are a lot of initiatives I know that are in that plan,” Brown said. “Does that mean that now with this plan when you get it approved we’ll be seeing that also on an annual basis?”
Gotsch said it would not because it is “separate from the capital improvement projects,” but Brown added that, “It’s still a plan.”
The board found a total of seven revisions that will be done to the plan.
Sign approvedThe commission also moved that The Oak Crest Center minor public urban developments amendment be approved with a sign, but not the verbiage, in the median.
The Oak Crest Center consists of 6.7 acres located around RC Theaters in California, including a Chipotle. Six “flex” buildings are currently being built, two are about to begin construction and several other buildings’ tenants have not been finalized.
“These are good plans and they all tie together. They all flow together and even though this was a minor PUD, it still ties into a very significant development in the county,” Lexington Park resident Troy Cowan said during a public speaker session. “As a public citizen, one of my frustrations is that everything comes up either here or at the commissioners, any number of places, comes up as a standalone and it’s never referenced back into where it fits into the individual plan that led to its genesis.”
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