Planning commission approves concept plan for proposed Golden Beach Road winery, ties road improvements to occupancy

The St. Mary's County Planning Commission on Jan. 13 approved a concept site plan for a proposed winery on Golden Beach Road, but added a condition requiring the applicant to complete required road improvements before obtaining the project's use-and-occupancy permit.

The proposal, presented as concept site plan number 19-13200008, seeks approval for a 6,562-square-foot winery at 38713 Golden Beach Road in the Rural Preservation District. The staff report placed the site within the county’s Rural Preservation zoning framework, explained the zoning’s agricultural and low-density residential objectives and said winery use is permitted in the district. The plan was entered into the record as the staff exhibit.

Applicant Jay Hobson and landowner Gerald Byrne described an existing family farm that currently has about six acres in production and plans to expand to roughly 11 acres of grapes. They told the commission the winery facility will be largely subterranean for production, with a tasting room above grade, and that daily parking would be provided near the building with a reinforced turf area of roughly 30 spaces planned for occasional special events.

Neighbors and civic leaders pressed the commission at length over safety and traffic on Golden Beach Road. Dale Antosh, president of the Golden Beach Patuxent Knoll Civic Association, said the road already carries heavy daily traffic and has a history of serious crashes, and urged extra scrutiny of sight distance and event impacts. Cathy Whitman, a resident who lives two houses from the All Faith Church Road intersection, also said traffic there can back up and that special events could worsen congestion.

The Department of Public Works and Transportation (DPW&T) told the commission the driveway location met sight-distance requirements in the county road ordinance and said it would collect and review crash data for the corridor in response to neighborhood concerns. DPW&T staff estimated average daily traffic on Golden Beach Road at roughly 6,900 vehicles and said the county can pursue speed or other engineering and enforcement remedies if crash analysis supports them.

During discussion commissioners focused on two sets of concerns: whether the project's entrance and acceleration/deceleration work met standards and whether nearby road safety issues raised by residents warranted conditions. Commissioners settled on a motion to approve the concept plan with a single clear condition requiring completion of required road improvements — including the entrance and associated aprons and turn lanes shown on plan drawings — prior to issuance of the use-and-occupancy permit. The motion passed by voice vote.

The hearing record includes discussion that special events at wineries are limited under county rules to a number of days per year (planning staff and DPW&T referenced a 20-day limit under current ordinance and noted an economic development proposal to increase that allowance to 30 days). The applicants estimated that daily winery trips would be on the order of dozens per day and that larger events could draw a few hundred attendees; they said parking would be provided on site and that they would discourage roadside parking. The applicants also said their initial production from about 11 acres of vines would be in the range of about 5,200 to 7,000 gallons per year and that they do not plan to reach the ordinance production cap discussed at the hearing.

Next steps: the project will proceed to major site-plan and permit review. DPW&T will continue to evaluate the corridor and the applicant must satisfy engineering and permitting conditions before occupancy.