St. Mary’s County planning commission discusses consolidating future land‑use categories, creating Lexington Park district

ST. MARY'S COUNTY, Md. — The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission on Sept. 19 reviewed a package of proposed changes to the comprehensive plan’s future land‑use map intended to simplify categories and to create a single designation for the Lexington Park Development District.

Consultant Leanne King opened the discussion by placing the map changes in the comprehensive‑plan process and noting the limits of the document. "This comprehensive plan process will not make any direct changes to your comprehensive zoning ordinance," King said, adding that the update can include recommended zoning changes for later implementation.

The consultant team proposed consolidating several existing land‑use categories into broader labels and removing two categories. Key recommendations discussed were: - Merge “rural preservation” and “rural residential” into a single rural preservation designation, with critical‑area protections handled as overlays rather than separate land‑use classes. - Combine “residential low density transitional” and “residential low density” into a single residential low‑density category, retaining critical‑area protections as overlays. - Consolidate “rural commerce” and “crossroads…