Board approves Hodgkins’ deck and garage addition with mitigation and relocated steps

The St. Mary’s County Board of Appeals on April 8 approved variances that let homeowner Cindy Hodgkins add a 15 by 24‑foot deck to the rear of her house and construct a 730‑square‑foot second floor above an existing detached garage at 45311 Clarks Landing Road in Hollywood. The board approved relocation of existing steps and a gravel access path to the pier as part of the variance package.

The decision matters because the deck represents permanent disturbance within the 100‑foot critical‑area buffer; staff calculated 360 square feet of permanent disturbance and required 3:1 mitigation (1,080 square feet) to be approved before a building permit is issued. The garage addition exceeds the director’s administrative expansion threshold and therefore needed board approval under the county’s nonconforming‑structure rules.

Stacy Clements summarized the request and the standards the board must apply for nonconforming‑structure expansions and critical‑area variances. She told the board the Health Department and Soil Conservation District had approved the site plan and that the Critical Area Commission had provided comments. Clements said the proposal would maintain the existing garage footprint while adding a second floor and would add a 360‑square‑foot deck; mitigation for the deck was calculated at a 3:1 ratio.

Cindy Hodgkins said she bought the property three years ago and that the rear yard and original walkway had been in disrepair; she has held off planting so she could implement a larger planting plan that would be used as mitigation. “Knowing that eventually I was going to ask for this variance to have a deck I have... held off on doing any landscape because I want to make sure that the area is brought back and there’s lots of plantings,” Hodgkins said. She also provided photographs and a planting plan showing native beds and clusters intended to meet the 3:1 mitigation requirement.

Board members and staff clarified step locations. The board required the applicant to provide an exhibit showing approximate relocation of the steps (the applicant marked an approximate location on the site plan during the hearing); the board included the relocated steps and approval of a gravel walkway to the existing pier in its motion. Staff confirmed the garage addition contains no plumbing and that the Health Department had approved the site plan as submitted; any future conversion of the second floor to living space involving plumbing would require separate permitting.

The board voted to approve the variances and directed staff to prepare an order documenting the decision; the board’s order will be signed within 60 days and is subject to a 30‑day appeal period.

Ending: The approval lets Hodgkins build the deck and the second‑floor garage addition subject to the mitigation plan (3:1 for the deck), a revised exhibit for step relocation attached to the case record, and standard permit approvals.