Design team previews preliminary plans for proposed St. Mary's County sports complex at St. Andrew's Church Road site

Designers working for the Maryland Stadium Authority and St. Mary’s County Recreation and Parks on Thursday presented preliminary plans for a proposed sports complex on county-owned land off St. Andrew’s Church Road and Johnson Pond Road, saying the program is intended to be an economic driver for the county and southern Maryland.

The project team said the campus concept includes a minimum of about 36 acres for outdoor facilities, an indoor building roughly 100,000 to 130,000 gross square feet, and supporting amenities including concessions, administrative space and parking. "Simply stated, the project is intended to be an economic driver for this county, the southern Maryland region, and the state of Maryland as a whole," Eric Einhorn, design principal of Ballpark Architecture, said during the presentation.

The program presented to the public was based on a market and economic analysis by Crossroads, the consultants said, and envisions 8 to 10 tournament-quality rectangular multipurpose fields (a minimum of four configurable as softball/baseball diamonds), with the majority of fields using turf and supporting field lighting and spectator seating. The indoor facility was described as including a minimum of eight hardwood basketball courts—which could be configured as up to 16 volleyball courts—and flexible flooring so courts could be overlaid with turf to create additional indoor field space.

Project staff said the program is still preliminary. "Preliminary research and base mapping has been completed," project staff said, and added that environmental work, a site survey and traffic analysis are ongoing. A county project manager told the audience the team cannot advance preliminary designs past this phase until the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) completes its review and any required clearances. "We're not able to move forward until we get MDE's approval for anything," the project manager said.

The team identified Manns Woodward Studios and Ballpark Architecture among the lead designers, with MSA (Maryland Stadium Authority) as a project stakeholder and Crossroads as the author of the economic study. The presentation showed the proposed site is wooded, bisected by Johnson's Pond Lane, and bordered to the north by Route 4 and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church. The designers said they will return to the community with optional layouts after completing the current site analysis and cost estimating.

Organizers also opened a five-question survey to the public to gather input on which sports residents and families currently play, which they would use if new facilities were provided, typical travel distances for tournaments and an optional comment field. The team said presentation materials, the survey link and a recording of the meeting would be posted on the county’s Recreation and Parks communication channels.

Speakers from the project team emphasized standards and permitting expectations: preliminary environmental and archaeological analyses are under way; traffic studies are being prepared; and the project proposal includes a goal of at least "lead silver" level green building standards. The project team did not present cost estimates, a funding plan, an operations model, or a construction timeline at this meeting.

Public commentators raised questions about site access, traffic on St. Andrew’s Church Road, preservation of mature trees, stormwater and other environmental impacts, and parking capacity. Project staff said traffic and environmental studies will be part of the ongoing analysis and that operational decisions—who would run the facility and which revenue models would be used—would be determined later if the county moves forward with design and engineering.

Next steps described by the presenters include completing the ongoing environmental and traffic work, developing preliminary design options informed by this public input, producing cost estimates, and returning to the community with those options for stakeholder review.