Olive Garden, steakhouse first up for Park Place project

New development near Town Creek has aroused neighborhood suspicion

Friday, June 13, 2008

However, a Hooters restaurant was turned away to keep the development family-friendly, said Mark Rinaldi, developing agent for developer Next Summers.

The developer of Park Place held an informational meeting for the residents of Town Creek, North Town Creek and Cal Acres, where a large crowd was inquisitive and sometimes hostile.

The project was approved in October by the planning commission for restaurants, office space and 38 homes on 41 acres.

Only the restaurants and hotel site are moving forward right now because of the sluggish economy, Rinaldi said. ‘‘The housing industry is down. We have no plans to develop that in the near future,” he said of the rest of the project.

The restaurants will be along the roadside of Route 235 north of Shady Mile Drive, and according to the developer’s timetable, the first two restaurants should be open for business in fall 2009.

The Olive Garden restaurant will have 247 seats; the one in Waldorf has 310 seats. The local restaurant would employ between 100 and 125 people. There are 650 Olive Gardens in the United States.

To offset the traffic impact generated, the developers will be adding a deceleration lane on northbound Route 235 into Park Place, adding another left-turn lane to southbound Route 235 at the intersection there and in addition, will be responsible for adding 700 feet to the left-turn lanes into the First Colony shopping center across the street.

But residents of Town Creek and the surrounding area wanted to know the detailed impact of the project. Some were concerned that Woodlawn Drive in Town Creek would be turned into an access road. Money has been set aside should traffic calming devices be required on the road, Rinaldi said. That would be up to the St. Mary’s County Department of Public Works and Transportation.

Another wanted to know what would happen to the trees around the now-empty field. They will be chipped and hauled, Rinaldi said.

‘‘We hope it’ll be a short amount of time that’ll sit fallow,” he said.

Diane Fadeley of Town Creek pressed the matter of stormwater management regulations. The state passed more stringent regulations last year, but they still haven’t been spelled out for builders.

Fadeley read the minutes of the planning commission meeting that said the developer was supposed to follow these new regulations. Rinaldi and local developer John Parlett said they will be going above and beyond what is required to manage runoff.

‘‘It’s a shame we don’t have Shelby Guazzo here,” Fadeley said. Guazzo, a member of the planning commission, later arrived. She scrutinized the project last year when it was under review.

John Groeger, deputy director of the department of public works and transportation, said based on the plans he has reviewed so far, ‘‘they are making a good-faith effort to comply,” with whatever the new regulations are. ‘‘I think it’s a win-win.”

Others wanted to know what would happen to the brick house on the corner of the property. If someone wants to physically move the house, they are free to do so, Parlett said, and someone has been seriously investigating such an endeavor.