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St. Mary's County Board of Appeals approves variance to place 358 sq ft driveway in critical-area buffer
Summary
The St. Mary's County Board of Appeals unanimously approved a variance allowing about 358 square feet of driveway disturbance inside the 100-foot critical-area buffer for a 1.26-acre property on Grey Falcon Lane, with mitigation required by the Critical Area Commission.
The St. Mary's County Board of Appeals on the evening of the meeting approved a variance (VAAP 18-1713) permitting approximately 358 square feet of disturbance inside the 100-foot critical-area buffer to construct a driveway serving a proposed single-family house on Grey Falcon Lane.
The variance applies to a 1.26-acre (approximately 54,886-square-foot) lot fronting St. Clements Bay. County staff presented site maps, flood-plain and soils information and said the property is in the Rural Preservation District with an RCA overlay. The applicant proposed a 1,258-square-foot house, a 500-square-foot detached garage and associated driveway and access; staff reported the proposal would disturb about 18,300 square feet of soil overall and clear about 6,675 square feet (18.6%) of existing vegetation. Staff said the applicant proposes 358 square feet of impervious area inside the 100-foot buffer and expects post-development lot coverage of about 4,770 square feet compared with an allowable RCA lot coverage of 8,233 square feet under county zoning calculations.
Mike Allen Bailey Sr., office manager for DH Steffens Land Surveying and Engineering Firm, told the board the driveway follows an existing 20-foot ingress/egress easement created in 1970 and that the applicant moved the access further north on the lot to reduce buffer impact. "We went from somewhere in the neighborhood of 605 square foot of disturbance down to 358 by moving that right of way to the north," Bailey said, and added the applicants would provide mitigation at a 3:1 ratio to offset the buffer disturbance.
Board members questioned whether mitigation was required for a gravel driveway. Kathleen Easley, deputy director of Land Use and Growth Management, said the mitigation requirement was imposed by the Maryland critical area rules. "It's a state requirement through COMAR, from the Critical Area Commission...it's a requirement," Easley said.
After discussion and with no public testimony, a board member characterized the application as modest and noted the applicant had reduced the buffer impact by shifting the access. The board voted unanimously to approve the variance. The board chair said a 30-day appeal period from the date the order is signed applies; work during that period would proceed at the applicant's risk and the applicant will receive a signed copy of the order once available.
The board's approval does not itself waive the state mitigation requirement; staff noted the Critical Area Commission had not opposed the variance but had asked for 3:1 mitigation for forest clearing. The board recorded no additional conditions in its motion beyond the approval and the standard appeal notice.
The meeting record includes several technical details from staff review: the health department, soil conservation and stormwater management approvals were noted; portions of the shoreline fall into AE flood zones but the proposed development would be more than 50 feet from the regulated flood hazard area. The applicant said the dwelling would use a private well and septic and incorporate water-efficiency measures (rainwater harvesting and dry wells) described during the presentation.
The board closed the item after the vote and moved on to routine business, including approval of minutes and signing an earlier order (see Votes at a glance).
