County hears developer's request on Waldorf project

Economy spurs changes to make sales easier

Friday, Nov. 20, 2009

The Charles County commissioners heard testimony on proposed changes to the high-profile Waldorf Crossing development to accommodate developer concerns that the project as it was planned would be a tough sell during the recession.

Among the changes included in the revised conditions is dividing the phases of development in pods and requiring a certain percentage of a pod to be completed before the successive work can start.

Wagner said there is also going to be an adjustment to the percentage of residences that have one, two and three bedrooms, which will allow for a mix of single-family units, something not commonly seen when trying to build up density.

The county's Planning and Growth Management Program Manager Shelley Wagner explained to the commissioners that the zone had been approved in 2004 and was made up of roughly 140 acres on two plots of land, 87 acres on the west side of U.S. 301 and 54 acres between Substation Road and Mattawoman-Beantown Road,

"There was a lot of deliberation and a lot of back and forth," Charles County commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D) said. "The primary reason is the Charles County commissioners were promised this was going to be one of the highest-quality projects the county had ever seen. It was going to be the entrance to Charles County. What we were sold on was the quality part; the image of what you'd perceive when you first entered the county."

Cooper was a commissioner at the time of the original approval.

Wagner said because of the struggling economy, some of the conditions for the approval were not flexible enough to allow St. John's Properties, a developer and representative for Chaney Enterprises, the opportunity to build a transit-oriented community.

Of the four residents who testified during the hearing, two concerns about flooding in nearby neighborhoods and impacts on local businesses were directed to the county planning department.

A resident of Pinefield was concerned about how new homes would impact crime, and a Substation Road resident said she felt it was unfair to taxpayers to take up the burden of funding a pedestrian bridge over U.S. 301, for which the developers said they would only donate land.

The public comment period for the Waldorf Crossing TOD changes will remain open through Dec. 4.

Also Tuesday, the commissioners voted to approve proposed bond issues by La Plata, Potomac Heights and Indian Head volunteer fire departments after no testimony was given during the three separate public hearings.

"This is a special provision of internal revenue code that allows volunteer fire departments to borrow money on a tax-exempt basis if their host jurisdiction — in this case the county — approves the financing after holding a public hearing," said Cheryl Guth of McGuire Woods, who was on hand to represent the fire departments. "This is done solely for federal tax purposes. The county is not issuing bonds or issuing faith or credit of these bonds in any way."

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