Callaway nursing home proposed

Planners want view of road for residents

Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009

Future Home and Health Care already operates 11 other facilities in Maryland, said developing agent Jerry Nokleby, "so this isn't the first venture for them."

The building is planned to be 413 feet long on 7 acres on the west side of Route 5, south of the intersection with Piney Point Road.

The facility would include food service, laundry, medical services, lounges and outside courtyards. Planning staff recommended a two-story facility so it looks more residential, but the planning commission was comfortable with one story.

Nokleby's mother lived in a nursing home in Minnesota, he said, and it's faster to evacuate a one-story building in an emergency. He said his mother lived on the third floor of the nursing home and the cafeteria was in the basement. All day long, residents sat in lines in their wheelchairs waiting for the elevators, he said.

As for this project in Callaway, because it is on Route 5, the zoning ordinance requires a 75-foot setback to allow for future expansion of the road, but Shelby P. Guazzo, planning commission member, said she's had experience caring for elderly loved ones in nursing homes and said she wanted the building close to the road. She said she wanted a berm between the road and the facility removed as well.

"They know they're dying, but they want to see some life out there," she said, with the traffic going by.

Susan McNeill, planning commission member, said the board of appeals would have to grant a variance to decrease the buffer, but Guazzo said she wanted the planning commission to do it.

Referring to a project reviewed earlier that evening where Guazzo called for more buffers between a hotel and a neighborhood, Merl Evans, another planning commission member, said, "I'd like to be able to be consistent."

"Are the projects exactly the same?" Guazzo said.

"No project is exactly the same," Evans said.

"Then why do we need to be consistent?" Guazzo said.

Evans said he had no issue having the berm removed, but added, "We've been doing away with the zoning ordinance every time we meet."

The planning commission gave concept site plan approval and recommended to the board of appeals to allow a decrease in the buffer from the road so residents can better see the traffic on Route 5.

jbabcock@somdnews.com