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 an optical business to the Maryland State Highway Administration for future intersection improvements, and to build the hiker-biker trail segment along the 235 frontage. The applicant also said it will seek a separate approval from the Board of County Commissioners for a crossing of a railroad right of way required by the development.

Michelle Shelley, planning staff, described the relief at the outset: “The variance request is from section 63.3 of the comprehensive zoning ordinance to reduce the required buffer yards along Maryland Route 4 or St. Andrews Church Road, proposed segment of FDR Boulevard, and along the north to northwest portion of the property.” She told the board the property is a 14-acre assemblage made up of parcels that included a former mobile home park, the Bay Center shopping center and the Pearl Vision center, and that staff recommended the applicant retain a 15-foot strip for the A buffer along the hiker-biker trail.

Chris Longmore, attorney for the applicant, framed the request around the site's layout and public improvements. “This is a very important intersection to the county and one that has been in some stage of development for quite some time,” Longmore said, adding that the applicant’s project advances county transportation priorities by constructing the FDR Boulevard segment. Longmore asked the board to consider a two-year variance term, noting state and county permitting steps can extend beyond one year.

Renny Friedman, project manager and civil engineer, said the applicant will complete the FDR Boulevard connection: “It will be the responsibility of of the applicant to finish that connection to FDR. So, again, it is it will be a continuous road, connecting Route 235 to Route 4.” He also told the board that final road plans and any needed turn lanes will be resolved in the project's roadway construction plan and permitting phase.

The board’s approval restated the specific buffer reductions described in staff materials and the applicant’s exhibits: reduction of a required 65-foot B-type buffer to a 30-foot C-type buffer along portions of Maryland Route 4 (with a further reduction to 25 feet at the proposed pharmacy frontage/ingress-egress), reduction of a 65-foot B-type buffer to a 30-foot C-type buffer along the proposed FDR Boulevard frontage (with a further reduction to 20 feet at certain segments), and reduction of a 30-foot C-type buffer to 20 feet along the boundary adjacent to the SMECO substation and an adjoining church parcel. The motion tied the variance to conditions that included the fence meeting child-safety standards, a 15-foot planting zone along the hiker-biker trail for required A-type landscaping, upkeep and replacement of plantings, and that the variance exist for two years and be conditioned on final site plan approval and construction in accordance with that approved plan.

Board members discussed a planning-commission clarification that the fence should meet child-safety standards and a correction to the planning commission minutes language about the developer's obligations to acquire land and complete improvements; staff confirmed the packet had been updated. The board also recorded that the property previously had variances under prior ownership and that the current concept site plan received Planning Commission concept approval conditioned on the applicant obtaining the variances now requested.

The board voted unanimously to approve the variance. The board's order will be prepared and signed by staff within 60 days; an aggrieved party has 30 days from the order’s signing to file an appeal in circuit court.

Votes at a glance: VAAP 5-132-019 — approved unanimously with conditions (see body).