Two new parking lots proposed for bus commuters

Residents raise objections about additional traffic

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN Jack Bailey, center, and Karin Bailey share their concerns about the proposed location of one of the new park and ride lots proposed by the Maryland Transit Administration to serve those who commute by bus. E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

The parking lots serve commuters who ride MTA’s express buses to Washington, D.C. Each new lot would accommodate 500 vehicles; the current leased lot has room for 600.

Last week at Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School, MTA held an ‘‘informational open house” about the proposed lot on Golden Beach Road. Some nearby residents raised objections to what they said would be increased traffic at both sites.

Ernest Baisden, manager of project development in the MTA’s Office of Planning, said both new lots are necessary. ‘‘We want to cover growth,” he said. MTA ridership in Southern Maryland has increased by 92 percent in the past seven years, and continued growth is anticipated.

A single parking lot with room for 1,000 cars would be impractical because of traffic concerns, said Baisden. He said that an MTA study showed that if such a lot were located at the New Market site, the Route 5⁄Route 6 intersection would fail.

Glenn Saffran, MTA’s deputy director of the MARC train and commuter bus department, said that the bus routes serving Charlotte Hall – which include the 903, 905, and 909 buses – would likely be split between the two lots. Some buses, especially the heavily used 905, might pick up at both lots, he said.

The Golden Beach Road site, referred to as the Charlotte Hall park and ride, as opposed to the proposed New Market park and ride near the 5⁄6 intersection, was the main focus of last week’s meeting. The proposed lot would be on the north side of Golden Beach Road, east of Triangle Drive and across from Business Center Drive.

The MTA plans to purchase that land from F. Elliott ‘‘Sonny” Burch, whom Baisden described as a ‘‘willing seller.” Owning, rather than leasing, the park and ride land would give the MTA more permanence, security and ‘‘flexibility in what can be done with the lot,” Baisden said.

Some local residents expressed concern about the location of one or both of the proposed lots.

Kim Cutchins of Mechanicsville said she was ‘‘surprised [the proposal] was back again ... We already have enough traffic.”

Joe Ferrante of Golden Beach said he was concerned the proposed Charlotte Hall lot would back up traffic coming on and off Golden Beach Road from Route 5. He noted that there is traffic coming to the post office and businesses like Arby’s at that intersection, as well as from Golden Beach residents going to and from home.

‘‘They just picked the wrong spot, that’s all,” said Ferrante.

Ferrante and several other residents, citing an MTA study that determined, 73 percent of Charlotte Hall park and ride users come from south of the lot, the lot could not be located farther south in St. Mary’s County.

Saffran said that if riders from the northern part of the county are forced to ‘‘drive backwards and backtrack,” those commuters could become alienated and stop taking the bus. The next park and ride lot to the north is on Mattawoman-Beantown Road.

Saffran also cited safety concerns as a reason to put a new park and ride lot at a location where there are already traffic lights controlling the traffic, and cars are not moving as fast as they are in less-populated areas farther south on Route 5. He said that having buses pulling out into that faster traffic could be unsafe.

A plan for the proposed New Market lot on county-owned was rejected by the St. Mary’s County Planning Commission at an April 2007 meeting. Baisden said the MTA has conducted more studies since then, and made some changes to the plan. Now, he said, the plan shows another access road to the lot, linking to Charlotte Hall School Road.

The next step in the process for the New Market lot is to obtain a conditional use permit from the St. Mary’s County Zoning Board of Appeals, possibly at its meeting planned for May 8, Baisden said. Then, he said, the MTA would need approval from the planning commission.

Whatever the final plan, said Del. John F. Wood Jr. (D-St. Mary’s, Charles), ‘‘everybody’s not going to be happy.”