St. Mary's County holds hearing on closing portion of Bayfront Drive amid residents' concerns over beach access

St. Mary's County commissioners on Oct. 12 opened a public hearing on a proposal to close an unimproved portion of Bayfront Drive in the Scotland Beach area, a move county attorneys said would reduce liability tied to a narrow, eroded stretch of road but that residents fear could jeopardize long-standing pedestrian access to the community beach.

County Attorney George Farley told the board the county received the roadway from the State Highway Administration in 1988 and that the segment under discussion includes a paved portion that serves the neighborhood and an unpaved portion that has “gradually eroded” to “perhaps 10 feet in width at its narrowest portion.” “My recommendation is that the county close the portion of that road so as to remove that liability that attaches to the issues of maintenance of public streets,” Farley said. He emphasized that, if commissioners approve closure, “there would then be a second step” — a later, separate hearing to decide disposition and any easements.

Attorneys and residents who spoke at the hearing pressed two main points: that some property owners (identified in testimony as the Aikens, owners of lots 23 and 24) contend the road is their only potential means of vehicular access to their parcels, and that the wider community has used a dirt path from the end of the road to reach the beach for decades. Dirk Schwenk, attorney for the Aikens, said his clients’ “preference would be that the Department of Public Works just opens this so that my clients can have vehicular access to their lot.”

Property owners who live in the area, including Steve Wilkinson and John Wilkinson, described the unpaved area as long-untended and partly underwater; several speakers said lot 20 has been lost to the bay and that much of lot 19 is now in the water. Neighbors and long-term residents — among them Alan Norris, Betsy Gay, Mark Edelman and Abigail Adelman — said community access to the beachfront has been uninterrupted for decades and urged commissioners to preserve that access. “The community has had access to this beach for 70 plus years,” Tony Kotler said during public comment.

County staff and speakers clarified several technical points during the hearing: Potomac Avenue, which fronts lots cited in testimony, is a platted but undeveloped “paper street,” not a built county road; the county’s proposed “closure” would refer to ending county maintenance of the unimproved segment rather than immediately transferring or barricading the property; and disposition or transfer of the land would require a separate public hearing. Several residents asked that any closure be limited explicitly to maintenance and that access be preserved or memorialized by easements before any change in maintenance status.

The hearing concluded without a vote. Commissioners left the record open for seven additional days for written comments, providing a mailing address and email for submissions. Farley said staff expects the disposition stage — should the commissioners vote to close the road for maintenance purposes — to identify existing interests (ingress/egress, pier access and similar uses) and propose easements to preserve those uses if the county later disposes of the land.

The County Commissioners did not take formal action at the meeting beyond receiving testimony and setting a written comment period; any later ordinance to close the road or proposals to transfer property would require further hearings and formal votes.