St. Mary's County board approves reduced buffer yards for St. Mary's Marketplace, ties relief to final site plan

The St. Mary's County Board of Appeals on March 28 approved a variance (VAAP 5-132-019) allowing reduced required buffer yards for the proposed 14-acre St. Mary's Marketplace at the intersection of Maryland Route 235 and Maryland Route 4 in California, Maryland, unanimously granting the applicant relief subject to conditions including a two-year variance tied to final site plan approval.

The variance reduces required B-type and C-type buffer widths along Route 4, a proposed segment of FDR Boulevard and other property boundaries so the developer may proceed with a mixed-use commercial plan. The board attached conditions: installation of a six-foot decorative, child-safe wrought-iron–style fence along reduced buffers; retention of a 15-foot planting strip along the hiker-biker trail for the required A buffer; replacement/maintenance of dying buffer plantings; and a two-year variance term tied to final site plan approval and construction in accordance with that plan.

The decision matters because the project includes public infrastructure commitments and right-of-way dedications: the applicant agreed to construct a segment of FDR Boulevard connecting Route 235 to Route 4, to dedicate parcels containing a strip center and…