Question of perc tests holds up county’s purchase of land for park

Site is near Indian Bridge Road

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Now Beavans Property has offered up the site to the county as parkland, and the asking price is $700,000.

The property was up for consideration three years ago for inclusion in the Lexington Park Development District. The last set of St. Mary’s County commissioners turned that down. The property is zoned for a residential neighborhood, but much of the land won’t support septic systems.

Phil Rollins, director of the St. Mary’s County Department of Recreation and Parks, said the property owner has since approached local government offering to sell the land twice.

The paperwork was ready for signature Tuesday, but the commissioners tabled it until next week because of uncertainty of whether the land will pass perc tests that will permit restrooms to be built to serve a future park.

The property will meet the need for parkland in the central county and partially meet the need for Leonardtown parkland, Rollins said.

But the deal must be settled by Nov. 15 if it is to go through, and perc tests can’t be conducted until next spring.

Rollins was told there was at least one good perc test on the property in the 1990s, but found out recently it was never officially recorded.

Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D) said, ‘‘$700,000 is a lot of money. Shouldn’t we wait and make sure the land percs?”

Rollins said, ‘‘We don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” However, he added, ‘‘I can’t guarantee it won’t be a problem.”

Perc tests weren’t done before land was bought that became Chaptico Park, he said. It is the largest county-owned park at 250 acres, purchased Jan. 26, 2001, for $350,000. It had viable perc sites to support a septic system.

‘‘I don’t think it ought to be a stumbling block myself,” said Commission President Francis Jack Russell (D).

‘‘County don’t need a piece of land that don’t perc,” said Commissioner Kenny Dement (R).

There is no park concept plan yet for this property and so it’s not known how many restrooms would be needed, and therefore how many good perc test locations are necessary.

The Beavans property adjoins 836 acres of state natural conservation land off Indian Bridge Road. That site almost went to a Baltimore developer Willard Hackerman under the Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich administration.

If the county were to buy and convert the Beavans property into a park, parts of it would have to be timbered as it is heavily wooded.