Hearing set on Waldorf urban study

Changes would include pedestrian amenities

Friday, Aug. 14, 2009

It might sound a little outlandish right now but businesses along Route 925 in Waldorf are banking on that scenario playing out in the future if the Waldorf Urban Design Study package is adopted by the Charles County commissioners in the future.

The study package is a step forward in implementing the Waldorf subarea plan that was adopted by the county commissioners in 2004, according to county planners.

The Charles County Planning Commission gets the first crack at seeing the study package during a public hearing Monday evening in La Plata. The package includes proposals to create two new zones and revise a handful of others, a vision document for how to develop the Waldorf subarea and specific design guidelines on how to create a "downtown" Waldorf in about a two-mile area that stretches roughly north of Acton Lane to south of Leonardtown Road and between the railroad tracks on Leonardtown Road and U.S. 301.

Businesses along Route 925 and the business section of Leonardtown Road would be the most impacted, county planners said.

The third incarnation of the Waldorf Citizens Advisory Committee worked with businesses in the study area, county planners and residents to do the study, said Amy Blessinger, county planner. Work on the study began in 2006 and culminated last year after several public forums were held to gain citizen input on the document, she said.

Downtown Waldorf is envisioned to be developed as a pedestrian-friendly, urban area that will act as a hub for public transit, Blessinger said. The area mapped out in the study is close to where a future light rail line may carry commuters to jobs outside of the county, if county plans meet state and federal rules.

Darlene Breck, owner of the Southern Maryland Business Center on Route 925 in Waldorf and a member of the WCAC, said she is excited by the prospect of the Waldorf Urban Design Study finally coming to fruition although it will be a slow process.

Implementing the vision of the study will mainly have to be done through the redevelopment of existing buildings, Breck said.

"We'll do it slowly through redevelopment," she said, adding that making the area more pedestrian-friendly would help all of the businesses along the Route 925 corridor. "A lot of us on [Route] 925 would love it if people could walk to our businesses. It would bring a lot more people to our businesses."

Two new zones must be created to implement the vision of the study, according to a county staff report. The Waldorf Central zone would allow two- to five-story buildings boasting traditional architectural themes with an emphasis on civic and institutional uses, according to the report.

The Acton Urban Center zone would allow two- to 10-story buildings with a heavier emphasis on uses and densities that would support transit options, according to the report.

In addition, the mixed use, transit-oriented development, central business, community commercial, core retail residential and core employment residential zones would be tweaked to make them more compatible with the vision of the study, according to the report. For example, the revised CB and CC zones would require better pedestrian connectivity to surrounding properties and more open space areas.

The CRR and CER zones would be refined to make them more consistent with the goals of the study by requiring an emphasis on street- and landscaping amenities, according to county planners.

The vision plan for Waldorf envisions shared stormwater management and parking facilities, public and private parks and greenways, on- and off-street public parking and public transit stations that would include local and regional bus stops and a future light rail station, according to the staff report.

Revised design criteria would target architecture, outdoor spaces, parking facilities, streetscapes, sidewalks and pedestrian paths, site landscaping, lighting and signs, county planners said.

Breck said the study was well received by folks who attended its unveiling at a public forum in the fall.

"We had a great showing of people at the public forum," she said. "All of the business located along [Route] 925 came out and took a look at it."

Since there are not many residences in the study area there has so far not been much citizen dispute about it, Breck said.

Blessinger said the study would slowly allow for a more orderly redevelopment of the Waldorf subarea.

"It would be more cohesive, not such a hodgepodge," she said.

"I think that people will be excited to see this."

nmcconaty@somdnews.com