Planning Commission approves preliminary plan for 11‑lot Pembroke Thompson subdivision in Lexington Park

On July 14, 2008 the St. Mary’s County Planning Commission granted preliminary approval for the Pembroke Thompson subdivision, an 11‑lot single-family subdivision on 5.32 acres at 20787 Colby Drive in Lexington Park.

David Berry, Department of Land Use and Growth Management, presented the staff report and recommended approval. “For the record, my name is David Berry from Department of Land Use and Growth Management,” he said, and summarized prior approvals tied to the project: the concept plan was approved in January 2007, the planning commission recommended and the Board of County Commissioners approved a water and sewer category amendment (from W-6/S-6 to W-3D/S-3D) on April 10, 2007, and the forest conservation plan was approved on March 19, 2008.

Staff found the application met the statutory and ordinance criteria for preliminary-plan approval under section 30.5.5 of the subdivision ordinance: the proposed single‑family use is consistent with the county comprehensive plan and the RL (residential low‑density) zoning; access and circulation provide sufficient ingress and egress via Colby Drive and the proposed Thompson Court; public facilities were judged adequate under chapter 70 of the zoning ordinance; lot layout and clustering meet development standards; and required open-space and recreational-area provisions were addressed.

Open-space calculations in the staff report indicate the required common-open-space for this subdivision is approximately 2.75 acres. The plan provides 2.42 acres of undeveloped common open space plus about one‑third of an acre (0.33 acre) as a developed recreation area to meet the requirement. Staff recommended the common open space be owned and maintained by a homeowners association and that recordable deeds, covenants and a fact‑form be approved by the county attorney pursuant to section 31.6 of the subdivision ordinance.

Commissioner Thompson moved to approve the preliminary subdivision plan; Commissioner Evans seconded. The motion passed on a voice vote. The transcript records the chair’s announcement, “All in favor? Aye,” and later, “All opposed? It’s approved.” No roll‑call vote listing individual member votes appears in the transcript.

During discussion a commissioner asked about fractional student‑yield numbers used in the adequate‑facilities analysis; staff confirmed the method applies fractional yields carried to multiple decimal places per a prior study used for student generation calculations.

The commission’s approval is preliminary; final plan review, recording of HOA documents, and final approvals by drainage/erosion-control (DEC) and other agencies remain as conditions before lot recordation and development.