Proposal called ‘absolutely bad idea’ near Navy base

Friday, May 4, 2007

If too much development is allowed to surround the base, the Department of Defense would have no problem moving missions and testing to another facility, he said this week.

In 1977, St. Mary’s County government approved what is called an Air Installation Compatible Use Zone and vowed to keep large-scale residential development out of it. It was established both for the safety of civilians and to protect the Navy from complaints about noise or other activities.

But the AICUZ does not reflect new testing projects coming to Pax River, Smith says, and a proposal called Glazed Pine planned by developer Guy Curley less than a mile from the base fence near Hermanville Road is just one proposal that is not compatible with future missions and testing.

Growth northbound along Route 235 from the base is fine, he said. Growth down Great Mills Road is fine. But large projects across the highway from the base’s fence would be a problem, he said.

He said Glazed Pine is just one of several proposed projects he views as ‘‘incremental encroachment.”

Though there are homes and neighborhoods under Pax River’s airspace, Carver Elementary School, the Lexington Park library and Lexington Manor have recently been moved away from the AICUZ.

Housing should not be in the AICUZ, he said, and ideally, there should be nothing there at all. ‘‘Airplanes crash,” he said.

When people come to work on the base, they are aware of possible danger. A jet crashed into a vehicle driving on base, killing a woman in 1992.

And limiting development in the AICUZ is not the complete answer, he said. ‘‘Those buffer lines are computer generated. Planes don’t stay in those lines all the time.”

While Glazed Pine might plan to insulate homes against loud sounds, he said, ‘‘Jets make noise. Kids have windows open.” It can affect their sleep and in turn, their school performance, he said. He said of local land-use policy makers, ‘‘They don’t think about kids, it’s all about developers. It’s not a smart decision to build that big of a development that close to the base.” Beyond the AICUZ, another transition zone is needed in county zoning. He spoke out in opposition to Glazed Pine in a letter to the county commissioners last June, calling it ‘‘an absolutely bad idea.”

At Pax River, ‘‘We test everything that’s new and different.” Sonic booms are often the source of noise complaints, but he said, ‘‘We do them and we will continue to do them.”

If a base can’t perform its functions properly, the Department of Defense will move those projects elsewhere, Smith said. ‘‘DoD doesn’t care about bases. They care about testing.

‘‘It’s the community that needs to protect the interests of the base,” he said.

Smith noted that local developer John K. Parlett serves on at least two committees selected by two different county commissioners.

‘‘How can these commissioners be so close to developers?” he said.

While Smith spent his years as executive director from 1993 to 2004 working in the background with developers, county officials and lawmakers to keep encroachment away from the base, he said he has the freedom now to go the extra mile.

‘‘Now I can bark a lot louder ‘cause I’m outside the gate. Now I can be the bad guy and I don’t have to worry about my job or my business,” he said, and added that the Navy can disclaim him at any time.