Planning commission hears presentation on St. Mary's 2050 plan; residents raise concerns about Piney Point, infrastructure and housing

LEONARDTOWN, Md. — Saint Mary's County planning staff and consultants presented the public hearing draft of the county's St. Mary's 2050 comprehensive plan at the Planning Commission's June 29 meeting, then took roughly an hour of public testimony that raised repeated concerns about coastal vulnerability, infrastructure capacity and the plan's reliance on voluntary rather than mandatory actions.

Jessica Andrews, director of the Department of Land Use and Growth Management, framed the two-part public hearing process and introduced consultants from Clarion Associates, who described the plan as a 20-year county policy document that updates the 2010 plan, defines land-use categories, and establishes an implementation matrix and monitoring schedule. The presenters said the draft retains Lexington Park and Leonardtown as primary development districts, designates about 88% of county land as rural, and sets an implementation cadence of annual briefings, three-year progress reports, five-year performance reviews and decadal overhauls.

The presentation also noted requested edits from county departments and recent comments from state agencies. Staff said those state comments, and written and verbal testimony from residents, will be reviewed ahead of the July 7 continuation of the public hearing and a scheduled commissioners' public hearing tentatively set for Aug. 18, with a final decision request targeted for Sept. 1.

Public testimony centered on several recurring themes. Piney Point residents asked planners to reverse or reconsider a town-center designation that they said conflicts with local conditions. "Piney Point is a peninsula surrounded by water...we are prone to flooding in high tides," said Renny Perdue of Piney Point, who said most of the area is in the state's critical area and lacks public water and full sewer service. "This level of growth will seriously affect our aquifers and stress our water supply." Bob Lindblad, also of Piney Point, told the commission the community averages about 10 feet above sea level and is already vulnerable in hurricanes and high tides.

Multiple speakers also pressed for stronger, enforceable housing actions. "There are too many suggestions in the plan and not enough requirements for action," said Brandon Russell Compton, who asked that items framed as "consider" or "explore" be converted into mandatory steps and suggested master plans for town and village centers. Compton and other speakers noted that of the plan's roughly 276 action items, only about half are listed as having adequate resources.

Troy Cowan of Lexington Park urged greater transparency about public input and asked for a named housing program director to produce a corrective action plan with explicit timelines. "Rather than a study struggling to keep pace, wouldn't a program director who can manage and adapt be better?" Cowan asked.

Accessibility and pedestrian safety were raised by Leonardtown resident Jean Marie Hanson, who measured sidewalk widths near her home and said some sidewalks are too narrow for wheelchair users. "They have almost tipped when attempting to get into Leonardtown," she said, urging planners to prioritize safe pedestrian access in Route 5 improvements.

Other testimony flagged local infrastructure sequencing and potential land-use conflicts. Kurt Engel of Tall Timbers said water and sewer must come before new development, criticized a proposed airport on a former tank farm now within a town-center designation, and asked for explicit treatment of data centers in growth-area policy. Several speakers, including Connor Russell of Hollywood, asked planners to prioritize preserving rural character and the ability of local young people to afford to stay in the county.

Staff also summarized memorandum-requested changes being circulated to the commission: cleanup of a phase-4 description, a clarified account of community engagement window 3, a Department of Economic Development request to restore ferry-related goals and actions, and two errata to maps (municipal annexation footprints and land-use color distinctions).

The commission took no formal votes on the plan that night. A motion to approve the June 8 minutes was carried early in the meeting, and a motion to adjourn concluded the session. The commission will reconvene for Part 2 of the public hearing on July 7 before moving to deliberations and a record to the county commissioners.