Traffic worries only objection to schools, library

County plans to build on Hayden property

Friday, April 10, 2009

The commissioners voted 4-1 on Christmas Eve last year to buy the Hayden Farm for $5.3 million and the transaction is going to settlement shortly. During a recent brainstorming session by school and county officials, plans were sketched out to use the property for an elementary school, a middle school, recreational fields and a new Leonardtown library.

"We will one day have a campus on the farm," said John Savich, county government administrator. The property is in the Leonardtown Development District and eligible for public water and sewer and is consistent with the town's plans, he said.

The commissioners' decision to buy the land on Christmas Eve was made, they said, to meet a state deadline to get in line for funding to plan and build a new elementary school. Now the commissioners face another deadline on a decision to renovate the Leonardtown library or build a new one on the Hayden land. That decision needs to be made for fiscal 2010, which starts July 1. "There is some time pressing on us," Savich said.

The cost for the library project could be between $15 million and $21 million, he said, and the difference between a new or renovated library could be $3 million.

The elementary school planned for the Hayden site would follow the green design of Evergreen Elementary School now being built in the Wildewood neighborhood of California, said Superintendent Michael Martirano.

An all-weather athletic field is also planned for the property, "something like a high school stadium," said Brad Clements, chief administrative officer for public schools.

The wooded portion of the Hayden property slopes down toward McIntosh Run and could be used for environmental studies. One road loop is shown to connect the two schools and library in the future with a design to connect the campus for pedestrians. It would also be within walking distance from the Leonard's Grant subdivision now being built.

Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D) had some concerns over traffic movements for when events are taking place at the same time at all three facilities, but Clements said there haven't been any formal traffic studies done yet.

Norman Norris, who lives off Route 245 in Leonardtown, said the area is growing with the construction of a wellness center at the Leonardtown campus of the College of Southern Maryland, the expansion of the county jail and the expansion of St. Mary's Hospital, "all within one mile of Route 245." The town needs a transportation plan with alternate routes built because roads to the hospital, health department and nursing homes are already backed up now. If alternatives aren't built, "we're going to have complete gridlock," he said.

Mary Bailey lives off Route 245 across from the Hayden property and said she often has to wait in her driveway for five minutes before she can pull out onto the road. "It's going to be worse than it is now," she said. She also suggested that an ice rink be added to the plans for the property. She said she suggested that use for the county park at Myrtle Point in California but said she was "booed by the tree huggers for even considering such a thing."

Several other speakers gave their support to a new Leonardtown library on the Hayden property.

jbabcock@somdnews.com