After a planning commission public hearing on April 1 that drew the anger of numerous residents of St. Charles communities, a recommendation has been made to the county commissioners to amend Docket 90 on May 6.
Docket 90 governs the process for submitting and approving designs for villages and neighborhoods to be constructed in St. Charles, a network of sprawling residential communities.
The amendments, proposed in late 2022, asked to waive the “85% rule” and to relocate the site of a future middle school from the Wooded Glen neighborhood to Piney Reach neighborhood.
The 85% rule in the St. Charles communities holds that residential construction of any kind shall not begin in the Village of Piney Reach until 85% of all residential construction has been completed in the Village of Wooded Glen, according to a presentation given to the planning commission.
The planning commission decided to not recommend waiving the 85% rule but was in favor of granting requested amendments to move the site of a future middle school and remove a 2018 buffer remediation plan.
The moving of the school has the support of the Charles County public school system.
The buffer remediation plan improved a vegetated buffer — an area of trees and other vegetation that provides a screen to block the view of the development from the roadway — along La Plata Road.
Richard Barnas of Barnas Engineering asked if ultimately the case for waiving the 85% rule could be pleaded to the county commissioners.
Deputy County Attorney Elizabeth Theobalds responded, saying, “The county commissioners can choose to take that into consideration and still grant the entire request, or take it into consideration and ask for more information from the applicants.”
Kevin Wedding, the planning commission chair, said, “The county commissioners make their own decision independent of what we recommend.”
“We’ll take up our case with the county commissioners,” Barnas said.
Eileen Lynch-Britt, a Waldorf resident who serves as the HOA president of the Fieldside community, organized a petition in mid-April to oppose the amendments from Lennar, the company overseeing construction in the St. Charles developments.
So far, the petition has gained nearly 300 signatures.
The text of the petition states that the request is disruptive and if the 85% rule is waived, it could set a dangerous precedent for future development and could potentially compromise the community’s integrity.
“Our communities are not just plots on a map; they are homes filled with families who have invested time, money and emotion into making them vibrant places to live. We cannot allow corporations like Lennar to disregard these investments for their own gain,” Lynch-Britt’s petition says.
At the April 1 planning commission meeting, Lynch-Britt echoed some community thoughts on the switching of the middle school’s location, saying that people had purchased homes based on school locations and that it felt like a “bait and switch” tactic.
The decision to move forward with amendments now lies with the county commissioners approval.
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