Saint Mary’s planning panel approves Evergreen transfer-station concept with traffic conditions

The Saint Mary’s County Planning Commission voted July 21, 2023, to approve concept site plan CSP23-0267 for the Evergreen Disposal transfer station in Charlotte Hall, contingent on several conditions including Department of Public Works & Transportation (DPW&T) approval of a traffic impact study and adequate public facilities (APF), tractor-trailer signage requiring right turns when leaving the site, and variances to County zoning rules.

The action implements language in the county Solid Waste Management Plan and clears a procedural milestone for a privately financed transfer station the applicant says will consolidate curbside loads for shipment out of the county. The commission’s approval is subject to the applicant obtaining variances and county permissions described in the conditions read into the record.

The planning commission’s decision followed a continuation hearing from June 23 focused primarily on traffic impacts. Attorney Steve Scott, representing the applicant, acknowledged errors in an earlier study and introduced a revised analysis by traffic consultant Michael Lenhart. “We dropped the ball on it and we apologize,” Scott told the commission before Lenhart presented new vehicle counts and a simulation of operations at the Route 5/Carpenter Lane intersection.

Lenhart said field counts were taken July 9, 2023, and compared to a permanent Maryland…