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St. Mary’s County commissioners defer Leonardtown park, remove school-site purchase from FY16 draft capital budget
Summary
At a March 16 budget workshop, St. Mary’s County commissioners agreed to move several projects in the draft capital improvement plan, including deferring Leonardtown Park to fiscal 2018, removing a $353,382 school-site acquisition from FY16, and shifting Evergreen Elementary primary building expenditures one year.
St. Mary’s County Commissioners on March 16 agreed to several schedule changes in the county’s draft capital improvement program, moving the proposed Leonardtown Park into fiscal year 2018, removing a $353,382 FY16 line for future school site acquisition, and postponing work on the Evergreen Elementary primary building by one year.
Elaine Kramer, the county staff member leading the budget review, told commissioners the session’s “first order of business today is to bring the capital budget, the draft capital budget, to take to the public hearing to closure.” Commissioners then discussed specific projects and timing before reaching consensus on the changes.
Commissioners said Leonardtown Park should be deferred while the county decides where to locate the planned Garvey Center and library on the Hayden Farm property. Commissioner comments cited a planning drawing that showed limited space for both a school and community park and noted overlap between proposed ball fields and school fields. County staff member Brian Lewy said preliminary architecture-and-engineering work (A&E) and concept plans are under way but completion of an archaeological review by the Maryland Historical Commission (MHC) remains outstanding for part of the site.
On school projects, commissioners agreed to remove the FY16 line item for a future school site acquisition ($353,382) from the draft budget, saying county officials expect potential property donations and do not want to purchase sites now. The board also agreed to push the Evergreen Elementary primary building funding out one year (amounts listed in the draft were $700,000 in one year and $3,075,000 in a later year), so the entries scheduled for FY20 would move to FY21 and the later amounts would shift accordingly.
Commissioners described the changes as adjustments to allow time for the Garvey Center and library planning to determine field configurations, parking and parcel boundaries before committing to park construction. Commissioners also asked staff to confirm how prior A&E and archeology work (including MHC comments on barn demolition and site review) apply to options that might include a library or community center on the Tudor/Hayden property.
The board asked staff to return a revised recommended budget that reflects those schedule changes at the next meeting, ahead of a public hearing on the draft capital budget.
Ending: Commissioners directed staff to update the draft CIP with the schedule changes and bring a revised recommended budget back for review prior to the public hearing.
