The Wildewood neighborhood in California is by far the largest in St. Mary’s County and members of the St. Mary’s County Planning Commission wanted to know this week when an exit to the rear of the neighborhood would be opened.

Shelby Guazzo, member of the planning commission, asked when Primevere Road would be connected to Lawrence Hayden Road leading out of the neighborhood. It was intended to be finished in the spring of this year.

It should be finished by this fall, said Shawn Day, assistant vice president of Duball, Wildewood’s owner. “It’s a little behind our original plan.”

“When will the road be open for emergency vehicles?” Guazzo asked.

“It’s accessible in a dry condition today,” said Tom Thomas, vice president of the Southern Maryland division of Stanley Martin.

A planned-unit development first approved in 1978, Wildewood can build up to 3,792 homes on 885 acres. So far, 2,358 have been built, leaving a balance of 1,434 new homes to go. Those figures are in addition to 125 homes on 221 acres in Neighborhood One, built in the late 1970s.

The planning commission asked where in Wildewood all the new homes would go.

Site plans are under review for a third section of Orchid Park, said Day. There are other undeveloped sections left in the neighborhood under different ownership that are also under site plan review. WSM Investments owns section 10 and 11, at the intersection of Wildewood Parkway and Wildewood Boulevard, Day said.

Development there would be apartments or condominiums.

Section 13 is on land fronting Wildewood Parkway at the entrance to Evergreen Elementary School. Wildewood Residential owns that.

The Wildewood Retirement Village is owned by Compass Pointe, Day said. That section has approval for 247 homes, and only 98 have been built.

The 1,434 homes remaining that can be built are “in various stages of approval,” Day said.

To meet the density of 4.3 homes per acre, “you’re going to have to build tight apartments,” Guazzo said.

The two main exits and entrances into Wildewood are at Wildewood Boulevard and at Wildewood Parkway. The neighborhood can also be accessed from Airport Road. But beyond the intersection of Smoke Hill Road and Wildewood Parkway, there is no way out of Wildewood if the parkway is blocked until Primevere Road is connected to Lawrence Hayden Road. A new extended acceleration lane down southbound Route 235 from Wildewood Boulevard is supposed to be started before winter, Day said.

Residents of Wildewood and the county commissioners have asked the Maryland State Highway Administration for a traffic signal at St. Andrew’s Church Road (Route 4) and Wildewood Parkway.

“The results of our analysis indicate that installation of a traffic signal is not justified at this location,” a May 18 letter told the commissioners.

“It’s certainly the question of the hour,” Guazzo said.

jbabcock@somdnews.com