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Community
Funds sought to buy, destroy old gas station
Great Mills Rd. blight targeted
Friday, July 17, 2009
 Click here to enlarge this photo File photo
The Community Development Corporation is seeking federal dollars to purchase the abandoned Mobil gas station at Chancellor's Run Road and Great Mills Road. The owner, Besche Oil, would tear the building down before the transaction is settled and it is hoped the other defunct gas station at the intersection will be torn down at the same time.
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For years now, two abandoned gas stations have stood as a dilapidated entrance to Chancellor's Run Road from Great Mills Road. Both are privately owned and St. Mary's County government has no zoning authority to remove blighted structures.
The Community Development Corporation, which oversees the revitalization of Lexington Park, is seeking nearly $600,000 in federal funds to purchase the old Mobil gas station property, which is owned by Besche Oil of Waldorf.
A public hearing was held Thursday night so the non-profit entity could submit the application for $579,640 from the Community Development Block Grant program.
A contract of sale was signed by the Community Development Corporation and Besche Oil on April 16, allowing 180 days for the funds to come through to buy the .6-acre lot.
Besche Oil is responsible for tearing down the building and accessories and cleaning any contaminated soils before settlement.
The agreed purchase amount for the land is $560,000. It should cost Besche no more than $20,000 for demolition of the property. "This is such a prime example" of the need for more authority within the zoning ordinance to deal with blighted structures, said Robin Finnacom, president of the Community Development Corporation.
The condition of the property is undermining the nearby community, she said. "The surrounding area has established integrity" with a renovated Great Mills High School across the street. "This cancer in the middle has got to be eradicated," she said.
"This corner property has often been the symbol of abandonment of the Great Mills corridor," she said.
If the Community Development Corporation didn't take action on the old Mobil station, it "could sit like this for an eternity and we'd have no leverage," she said.
"Unfortunately we had to take extraordinary measures," she said, to attempt to secure federal dollars.
Paul Colonna, vice president of Besche Oil, said in an interview last year the company had planned to rebuild on the property, but those plans were dropped when Wawa moved in nearby in 2002.
"This is wrong on so many levels," Finnacom said, of the property's current state.
The lot has been on the market for years.
"Those two gas stations make our school look awful," wrote Great Mills High School student Elizabeth Long to the county commissioners recently. "The students here take pride in their school and the area around it. The students don't appreciate how bad those gas stations make our school zone look."
The other gas station at the same intersection of Chancellor's Run Road and Great Mills Road still advertises gas for $1.63 a gallon though its gas tanks have long since been removed. It is part of a 28-acre tract owned by Thomas Homes in Calvert County, which was granted site plan approval for development. Called the Patuxent River Town Center, it has approval for 124,323 square feet of retail and office space and 440 condominiums that would surround the Wawa gas station on Great Mills Road.
"Right now this project is not ready to break ground" because of the stalled economy, Finnacom said.
However, it is hoped that both stations will be torn down at the same time when the contractor comes in for the Mobil station.
"Now would be an opportune time to remove the other service station," said Commissioner Daniel H. Raley (D), "to have both of those dilapidated structures removed." He has asked Finnacom and other county staff to work with Thomas Homes on that.
Once the Mobil station is removed, the Community Development Corporation will plant grass on the land and eventually put it back on the market. It is zoned for residential mixed use, which allows for office and some restaurant use.
Quincy Williams, treasurer of the Community Development Corporation, said of the effort, "I think it's going to be a tremendous benefit to the community. It's definitely going to help bring some more life to that segment down there."
The corporation has worked to remove blight along Great Mills Road. It bought and demolished the old Cummings Electric building at the top of the hill across from the Ford dealership. The land was sold back to the private market and now serves as parking for Tidewater Dental.
