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Commissioners approve plan to consolidate light-industrial and industrial mixed-use zones, add special-exception path for heavy industry
Summary
After a lengthy staff presentation and public questions about safeguards and size limits, the Calvert County commissioners voted to prepare for a public hearing on a consolidated industrial zoning district that preserves existing conditions and creates a board-of-appeals special-exception process for heavy industrial uses.
The Board of County Commissioners voted to send a consolidated zoning ordinance to public hearing that merges the county’s Light Industrial (I-1) and Industrial Mixed Use (IMU) districts while retaining the conditions in the draft and creating a special-exception route for heavy industrial uses.
Planning and Zoning Director Jason Brinkley and acting deputy director Rachel O’Shea walked the board through the November 2024 draft, explaining differences among the I-1, IMU and Heavy Industrial (I-2) districts and the kinds of uses allowed in each. Rachel O’Shea summarized the planning commission’s conditions and map-change recommendations and staff highlighted that some uses — for example, commercial recycling facilities and landfills — are permitted in I-1 but handled differently in IMU. Planner Will Hager noted the draft’s sizing restriction for home improvement centers: “The combined gross square footage of all buildings supporting the use shall not exceed 25,000 square feet.”
Commissioners pressed staff on safeguards for residents, asking whether the code creates triggers for larger projects, site-plan review thresholds and whether longstanding uses would be grandfathered. Staff said that many projects will require site plans and planning commission review and that specific heavy-industrial uses would require a special exception to the Board of Appeals. Brinkley said harmonizing the two districts would reduce public- and staff-side confusion about grandfathering and permitted uses.
Commissioner concerns focused on unintended consequences. One commissioner said he did not want to “sign my name to a document” that later allowed a large, objectionable use; staff and other commissioners responded that the 25,000-square-foot cap and existing site-plan and special-exception processes limit that risk. Staff also confirmed some uses — notably certain heavy industrial operations such as smelting and asphalt plants — remain prohibited.
A motion to “prepare [the] zoning ordinance for the public hearing that we consolidate I-1 and IMU into a single district with the uses proposed and add a special exception for heavy industrial uses to the Board of Appeals” was moved and seconded; the board approved it by voice vote.
Next steps: staff will prepare the consolidated draft and schedule a public hearing where the board will receive formal public comment before any final adoption vote.
