St. Mary’s planning commission approves Royal Farms concept plan over community objections

The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission approved a concept site plan for a Royal Farms convenience store and fuel canopy in Lexington Park on April 25, voting 4-3 after more than three hours of testimony and deliberation.

The approved plan covers a 5,154-square-foot convenience store and a 5,280-square-foot fueling canopy at 21779 Tulagi Place in the Lexington Park limited commercial-industrial (LCI) zoning district with an APZ-2 overlay. Commissioners placed one condition on approval: any road improvements required by the state or county must be completed concurrently with issuance of the project’s certificate of occupancy or as otherwise required during the final-site-plan process.

The action capped a hearing in which county staff and the applicant reviewed zoning compatibility, traffic study results and agency comments. Department of Land Use and Growth Management staff reported that convenience store and fuel sales uses are permitted in the LCI/ APZ-2 combination and said Navy comments attached to the staff report did not object to the proposal.

Royal Farms’ attorney Chris Longmore and the project team presented the plan. Civil engineer Steven Jarrett of KCI Technologies described site layout, pedestrian connections, landscaping and stormwater measures; traffic consultant Jackie Chandler of Traffic Concepts said…