Calvert board to host meeting on large apartment project in Lusby

Lusby residents will have an opportunity to address Calvert County officials and present their views on a controversial residential project in early July.

County government announced on its social media site last weekend that the county commissioners have scheduled an informational meeting regarding Lusby Villas. According to county officials, the two-hour meeting will be held July 9 at Southern Community Center in Lusby starting at 7 p.m.

Attendees may sign up to speak for two minutes at the meeting. County government is also planning to stream the meeting on its YouTube channel.

The Lusby Villas project would add 276 multi-family dwelling units in several apartment buildings to the Lusby Town Center’s Village Residential District on a 26.23-acre parcel.

The land is owned by John Gott Jr. and Quality Built Homes is the project developer.

In addition to several three-story apartment buildings, the development will include a community building, fields, sidewalks, a swimming pool and nearly 600 parking spaces.

The development’s entrance and exit would be on Lusby Parkway, which is connected to Rousby Hall Road from the south and Village Center Drive from the east. Exiting the latter road is right turn only onto HG Trueman Road. The northbound portion of Lusby Parkway is a dead-end.

The planned project has been the issue of two Change.org petitions created by Lusby residents, who have cited potential traffic issues and longer commute times as reasons for their opposition.

The Calvert County Planning Commission granted preliminary plan approval to Lusby Villas in March 2021. This past May the project received preliminary site plan approval from the planning commission after two split votes.

Christopher Gadway, planning commission member, made a motion at the panel’s May meeting to defer a decision on the project’s status until “we can get accurate, current traffic study information that depicts the development as it proposed currently, not as it was originally proposed.”

Gadway’s motion received the support of fellow planning commissioners James McQueen and Wilson Freeland.

McQueen, who lives in Lusby, labeled the Lusby Parkway and Rousby Hall Road intersection a “danger zone.”

The other four planning commission members voted opposed to Gadway’s motion for deferral.

Gadway, McQueen and Freeland sustained their opposition by voting against approval of the preliminary site plan with conditions.

During the May meeting, Anthony Olekson of COA Barrett, the project’s principal engineer, said the traffic study plan that was required is done and has Maryland State Highway Administration approval. He added that expanding Lusby Parkway northbound is still a possibility.

“The right-of-way is still there,” Olekson said.

To expand the parkway would, according to JR Cosgrove, county public works director, require Calvert government to purchase “three or four properties.” Due to lack of funding for what would be a pricey project, the parkway expansion is not currently in the county’s capital improvements plan.

Anyone who has questions about the July 9 meeting may send them to the planning commission administrator at PCAdministrator@calvertcountymd.gov.