Toward the end of a two-hour session Monday night, Howard Thompson, chairman of the St. Mary’s County Planning Commission, extended greetings to Golden Beach Properties LLC.
“Welcome to St. Mary’s County,” said Thompson, after he and other commission members present voted unanimously to approve the concept site plan for the developer’s project at the parcel currently home to a farmers market and flea market.
Developer Justin Rosemore’s project will bring a 20,599 square-foot ALDI supermarket, a 5,200-square-foot Chick-fil-A with a drive-thru, over 5,000-square feet of retail and restaurant space and a relocated farmers market to Charlotte Hall.
Monday’s meeting was the continuation of a February public hearing. Planning commission members wanted road issues created by the project to be addressed. The applicant has since indicated a willingness to fund $2 million in motor vehicle traffic improvements.
Nelson Arocho of Bay Engineering explained the three modifications to the concept site plan to address the board’s concerns.
One solution will be to add a roundabout on Traveled Lane, which currently runs parallel to the north side of the farmers market.
The second will be to add a deceleration lane on northbound Route 5 to access the loop road, which takes motorists to the new Chick-fil-A’s drive-thru lanes. Arocho said the access area for the fast food restaurant will be expanded to alleviate potential congestion and create “less points of conflict. We’ve added quite a bit of signage.”
Arocho said the Charlotte Hall Chick-fil-A will represent a “new prototype” for the popular chain and the design will have “stark differences” from the tighter layouts at the franchise’s California and Waldorf locations, which become backed up and create traffic problems at some points of the day.
The plan has drawn praise and criticism, with proponents touting the area’s need for another grocery store and economic development and opponents voicing concerns about creating more traffic problems.
Charlotte Hall resident Carolyn Curtis noted the town already has seven fast food restaurants and six have drive-throughs. She also brought up the large number of serious motor vehicle crashes between Golden Beach Road and Route 6.
“Planned traffic mitigation will not work,” Curtis said. “Why is everything concentrated in just this one-mile lot?”
“We really do the best we can within the confines of the comprehensive plan,” said planning commissioner Merl Evans in response to Curtis’ comments.
“This project fits perfectly into its zoning use,” declared St. Mary’s County Commissiner Mike Alderson (R) of Coltons Point. “This is a business development district. The farmers market is an eyesore.”
Alderson also indicated ALDI will bring good-paying jobs to Charlotte Hall, citing the hourly wages at many of the grocery chain’s regional locations.
The planning commission made its approval of the concept site plan contingent on the developer making the promised traffic changes to the project before any use and occupancy permits are issued.
