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Park and ride lot being designed for Golden Beach Rd.
Commissioners disagree on where it should be built
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo Staff photo by REID SILVERMAN
Commuters park their cars at a leased parking lot in Charlotte Hall to catch Maryland Transit Authority buses to Washington, D.C. The state tried to build a lot of its own in New Market, but planners turned it down. Now a new lot off Golden Beach Road is being designed.
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Plans are moving forward to build a state park and ride lot along Golden Beach Road, Jim Miller, project manager with the Maryland Transit Authority, said Monday.
It would be located across from Market Drive on property owned by F. Elliott Burch Jr., he said, and would have room for 500 cars.
The state is looking to buy the land.
Commuters to the Washington, D.C., area using Maryland Transit Authority buses park at a large lot owned by Ben Burroughs in Charlotte Hall. The state leases 600 spaces there until 2010.
"I'm concerned that where the cars are parked now … that could all go away," St. Mary's County Commissioner Daniel H. Raley said recently.
According to the state's schedule, the new park and ride lot should be advertised for bids next February, Miller said. "I expect this job will move close to schedule if not on schedule," he said. "Nothing ever moves as fast as they want it to."
It is hoped that the lease for Burroughs' lot will be extended in the meantime, Miller said.
The St. Mary's County Planning Commission turned down an application for a state park and ride lot to serve commuter buses on county government land in New Market in April 2007.
Earlier this month, all five of the county commissioners gave approval for three new athletic fields on that land, next door to Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School.
Some of the commissioners were concerned if there would be enough parking at the heavily used 5th District Park, but Phil Rollins, St. Mary's director of recreation and parks, said the fields will be used when school is not in session.
Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R) made the motion to approve the new fields. "The parking challenges could have been averted, but the majority of the board requested moving the park and ride location to Golden Beach Road," he said at the May 5 meeting, instead of the site off Route 6. "That's an observation."
"So be it," said Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D).
"That's what it is," Jarboe said.
"It is what it is," Russell said.
"Did we take a vote?" he asked the minute keeper. The response was no.
"Then let's do it," he said. The vote was 5-0 to build the athletic fields.
Last week, Russell said the commissioners had nothing to do with the park and ride project falling through in New Market.
"It was vetted through the planning commission. They voted not to have it there — a lot of concerns in the community," he said.
"For Commissioner Jarboe to insinuate … I don't know what he was insinuating," said Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D) on Friday. "We didn't do it."
While the New Market site was under consideration, county government offered to allow the state to build a new entrance on the northern end of the property onto Route 5, eliminating increased traffic on Route 6, the Maryland Transit Authority turned it down.
Raley said he didn't understand what political gain Jarboe has in fighting the other four commissioners on so many issues.
"We're not running against him," he said.
Raley told Jarboe last week to stop campaigning for next year's election during budget work and help the board balance the budget.
The Maryland Transit Authority was aiming for a 500-space lot at New Market and another 500-space lot on Golden Beach Road to replace the parking on the land rented from Burroughs.
"Commissioner Jarboe got involved; he doesn't want it there," said Burch said of the Golden Beach Road site.
The state has been talking with Burch about purchasing the land on Golden Beach Road, but he said recently he didn't know where the project stood currently.
"They're looking for 10 acres," Burch said of the old family farm there off Golden Beach Road. "That's been going on for five years. This thing has bounced back and forth.
"I don't care if they build it there or not. I have other uses for the property" that are permitted, he said.
A June 17, 2008, letter from County Administrator John Savich to the Maryland Department of Transportation said, "We are hopeful that the Charlotte Hall location on Golden Beach Rd. continues to be pursued and an established permanent facility will be operating in the near future."
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