New zoning category may ease school additions' path

Educators have stake in county's land plan overhaul

Friday, Aug. 7, 2009

Schools could be included in a new designation called "publicly used lands," school staff told the board of education during a work session Wednesday afternoon.

This would make projects such as placing portable classrooms or building additions to schools easier to move through the permit process, said Kim Howe, coordinating supervisor of capital planning and construction.

The designation could be used in any current district, including Rural Preservation District, town centers or village centers. The thought is, Howe said, that if a piece of land is public now, it will always be public and there will not be intense development on the property other than for public use.

The school system would not have to go before the board of appeals to add portable classrooms if the new designation is included. This could substantially cut down on the time it takes for approvals.

The comprehensive plan is intended to be the guiding document for local land development and conservation regulations, as well as capital investments.

The policy document is in the process of going through a mandated update.

A draft plan will be refined by the planning commission based on several public hearings this summer. The recommendation will then be forwarded to the county commissioners, who will hold more public hearings before a scheduled adoption planned by the end of this year.

A new zoning ordinance will then be written to implement the plan. Howe said school staff will follow this process closely to see how it could impact schools, both current and future buildings.

Brad Clements, chief operating officer for the school system, said after the meeting that he feels the school system has had its opportunity to weigh in on the plan. The planning commission will hold a work session next Monday, Aug. 10, where Clements said he plans to speak for the school system.

The proposed plan would change five schools from the rural preservation district to targeted growth areas.

Evergreen Elementary School would become part of the Lexington Park Development District, Lettie Marshall Dent Elementary School would be added to the Charlotte Hall Town Center, and Leonardtown Middle, Leonardtown High and the Dr. James A. Forrest Career and Technology Center would be added to the Leonardtown Development District.

Although the school system has a new elementary school opening this fall and land available for a second new elementary and a new middle school, prospects for future sites are uncertain. There are possibilities for an early childhood center at the Evergreen Elementary site and at George Washington Carver Elementary and additions could be made to Mechanicsville and Dent elementary schools to hold off overcrowding in the near future.

"When we get beyond that 10 years, there are no sites," Clements said.

Clements said right now getting Dent Elementary zoned to permit public water and sewer access is the most critical need so the school system can go through with a planned addition to help alleviate projected overcrowding in the north end of the county.

The state strongly encourages local school jurisdictions to build schools in growth areas; however, land suitable for school sites in such areas in St. Mary's is limited.

School board Vice Chair Cathy Allen said the school system was lucky to have gotten the sites it did in the Wildewood community and the Hayden Farm in Leonardtown, which came about because the economy had turned sour. Such deals might not be available in a few years if the economy improves, Allen said.

jyeatman@somdnews.com