YMCA exploratory committee selects Lexington Park site for feasibility study, votes to focus on Lexington Park

The St. Mary’s County YMCA Local Exploratory Committee voted Thursday to include a 3.14-acre parcel adjacent to the Lexington Park library as one of the properties to be studied in a county-funded feasibility study for a potential YMCA and formally adopted Lexington Park as the committee’s focus area.

Committee members approved the site by motion; the motion was seconded and carried without recorded opposition. The committee also approved routine items on the agenda, elected a chair and vice chair and set three future meeting dates.

The committee’s decision followed a presentation by a committee member who described Lexington Park as the county’s largest population center and argued the site near the library would leverage existing assets — the elementary school across the street, nearby parks and recreational facilities, churches, and other community infrastructure — to expand program options and shared parking opportunities.

The committee recorded the motion that the 3.14-acre parcel be one of the properties examined in the feasibility study, and then moved to make Lexington Park the group’s focus. Both motions passed. Committee members discussed the constraint that large, single-site parcels free of Air Installation Compatibility Use Zone (AICUZ) restrictions are scarce in Lexington Park and acknowledged the benefits of planning for satellite locations and partnerships with schools, churches and Parks and Recreation.

Committee members and staff noted the county has allocated $75,000 in the current fiscal year to support a feasibility study and that the county’s capital improvement plan (CIP) contains a placeholder project for a community/recreation center pending the study’s outcome. Committee members discussed that large capital projects in the county are often financed over time and that partial funding or partnership-led fundraising would be necessary for construction.

Votes at a glance

- Motion to approve the meeting agenda — approved (motion and second; “Motion carries.” recorded). - Motion to approve minutes of the Oct. 17, 2019 YMCA Local Exploratory Committee meeting — approved (motion and second; recorded as carried). - Motion that the 3.14-acre parcel adjacent to Lexington Park Library be included as one of the properties studied in the feasibility study — approved (mover: “Kathy”; second: not specified; outcome: approved). - Motion that Lexington Park be the committee’s focus area — approved (outcome: approved by voice vote). - Election of Bennett Wilson as committee chair — approved (voice vote). - Election of Michael Brown as vice chair — approved (voice vote). - Adoption of future meeting dates (Thursday, Jan. 16; Thursday, Feb. 20; Thursday, March 19) — approved (voice vote). - Motion to adjourn — approved.

Committee members emphasized next steps: finalize a short list of candidate sites (the chosen parcel will be one), provide any additional site suggestions to staff for mapping, and review a draft scope for the feasibility study at a future meeting so the county can issue the study contract and begin community surveying. Staff said they will update maps and distribute follow-up information to the committee.

The committee’s actions do not themselves commit the county to construction. Committee members repeatedly described the feasibility study as the next step to test market demand, determine building size, estimate costs and identify funding options.