Transit, connector loom large in Dist. 4

Candidates weigh in on issues in open seat contest

Wednesday, Aug. 25, 2010

Though the District 4 commissioners' race was the last county election contest to get its full slate of candidates, there's now a four-way race for the Democratic primary and a lone Republican hoping to take the place of Commissioner Gary V. Hodge (D).

District 4 sits just south of Waldorf, extends to the south to northern La Plata and covers the east- and west-running Billingsley Road between Middletown Road and Bryantown.

Its geography puts District 4 in the middle of the county but also squarely amid transit and development issues that will affect not only District 4, but the whole county.

Lanes, trains, automobiles

With 60 percent of county residents leaving the county for their commutes to work, all five District 4 candidates said they are interested in finding ways to keep more residents local and unclogging major thoroughfares.

"What I would like to see us do is … alleviate the congestion in our bus corridor. I propose a flyover at Route 228 and [U.S.] 301, similar to the one they built in Clinton," Republican candidate Don Derencin said. "We've done enough studying; I've looked at a ton of them. But we have to be careful not to destroy our business community, which is a big tax base for us there."

Derencin said that while he is a proponent of light rail and using the existing CSX rail lines if possible, the price tag is prohibitive and would require federal dollars. In the short term, Derencin said the county should focus on expanding its park-and-ride lots, looking into bus rapid transit and getting people to work off-site, perhaps in some of the many buildings around the county that are unoccupied.

Similar to Derencin's belief, Democratic candidate Joe Lehan said that the county should look at spending its federal stimulus dollars on projects other than paving roads that don't need it.

"I, too, would like to see some kind of connection to mass transit, but it's not going to happen overnight," Lehan said. "I think that some short-term solutions may be a connector system via buses and bus lanes; something that encourages people to take mass transit."

Democratic candidate Bobby Rucci said he also recognized that a light rail transit system was going to take time.

"Light rail is going to take quite awhile. We need to do a few different things," Rucci said. "We need do some different roads without bypassing. We have to figure out a way; I can't say without getting in there and talking to the roads [staff], but light rail is going to take too long. Maybe we could get a bus system and work with them to get new schedules."

Ken Santill, also a Democratic candidate, said the first step is to see how much money the county is working with before any plans on updating the county's transit system can begin.

"I'd love to see a light rail system. I think it would alleviate some of the problems in the morning," Santill said. "If [the county] can't do that, buses would be better. You have to pay the piper here some time."

"What I see is something that can be implemented quicker than light rail is HOV lanes; and along with those high-occupancy lanes is bus transportation," said Vincent "Vinny" Ippolito (D). "We do have park and ride right now; they're doing an excellent job, but we need more of a … bus rapid transit and that can be done fairly quickly."

Cross-county questions

The highly debated cross-county connector will have an effect on the county whether or not it gets the go-ahead from state agencies. More than half of the entire project — which extends between Route 210 and Leonardtown Road — is completed and runs through District 4.

Lehan said he supports the connector mainly for safety reasons. As a longtime resident of Charles County, Lehan said he has seen the number of accidents, injuries, damage and deaths collect over the years and that the existing Billingsley Road footprint is not a safe one.

"I would really like to see where the state is going with this," Lehan said. "[The county] skipped a couple [of] steps related to environmental impact studies. I think the state will approve the permits, but it will set conditions. I think it's in the county's best interest to take those notches up and mitigate and minimize any potential impact to the sensitive areas."

Rucci said he was in favor of the connector as well, but that he understood there were a lot of people upset about conservation of the environment.

"I think it's a good road, but people don't want it right now because of the money problem," Santill said. "I just don't think there's any money."

Derencin also said he thought the county doesn't have the money for the connector and that some of the money could be spent on other government priorities.

"At this time I think maybe we should wait on that. There are things that could be done to Billingsley Road and I definitely don't want to alienate anyone in the western end of the county. I'd hate to start building the road and have to go to somebody in the county and say, ‘Sorry you don't have a job.'"

Ippolito said he is asked whether he is for or against the connector project, but that he thinks the better question should be whether the connector is the best use of limited county funds and time.

"The answer I have received in speaking to the people is this is not what people want," Ippolito said. "My job as commissioner, if I'm elected, is to basically enforce the will of the people."

Dollars, sense

Along the eastern portion of Billingsley Road the county has begun turning dirt on its newest high school on Piney Church Road.

Originally proposed with a $100 million price tag, the cost was reduced to just more than $70 million, which includes the roughly $18 million in startup costs to open and run the school and the $14 million in operating costs the county could not commit to funding.

"It's going to be a feather in the cap of Charles County once it's completed," Derencin said of the state-of-the-art school. "Would I have voted for it? No, but it's going; it's happening and I will support it 100 percent."

Derencin said he thought the school could have been built for less and that there were some amenities it probably did not need. As for the operating costs, Derencin said the county would need to meet the state's mandate on fully funding education.

Santill referred to the school as the Taj Mahal and said it was "quite elaborate" and a lot of money to spend on a school, but that it could be better to spend now rather than later.

"Education is one of the most important things because it's our kids," Rucci said. "If it's got to be done, it's got to be funded, but I'm wondering where the funds are coming from, too."

Ippolito said he also recognized that funding the school's operating budget would be one of the new administration's upcoming challenges.

"Basically it's going to be a matter of prioritizing what is most needed for the county," he said. "I do think we have to go with the most modern and most up-to-date technologies. It's definitely going to be an asset to the community and to the school system as well."

Lehan said that practicing good fiscal responsibility and staying ahead of the financial game prepares a county for when there are projects such as building a school.

"We need to modernize the classroom," Lehan said. "I just think taking any steps backward is foolish."

Home run

Just down the street from the new high school sits the once-controversial baseball stadium.

Now Regency Furniture Stadium, it's the home of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. The stadium was built amid questions of whether it was the right amenity for the county at the right price. According to figures Blue Crabs executives provided during a commissioner meeting in January, the county paid for two-thirds of the stadium's total $26.7 million cost for its share of the costs and the share of the team owners with public construction bonds. The Maryland Stadium Authority paid the remaining third. Team ownership is paying back to the county the bond issue and also is sharing part of the stadium's revenue with the county.

In January of this year, the stadium's administration reported a 17 percent increase in attendance over the first season and the county received more than $1 million in revenue last season, team officials told the county commissioners in January.

"I don't think [the county commissioners] are really getting their money's worth now," Santill said. "Maybe later, but they gave a lot of concessions to get that."

"I think it's a great thing for the county but I don't think the county's caught up for it," Rucci said. "I think it's a neat thing for kids and a neat thing for the county but as far as the budget goes, it's premature. I don't think it's paying for itself yet."

A season ticket holder since day one, Derencin said he thought the county needed a baseball team, but it could have gotten one affiliated with a Major League Baseball team.

"Now that it's built we have to support it. It's showing to be a very good part of the community," Derencin said. "I wouldn't have [funded the stadium] with the bonding structure. We could have done it with a few other ways. I'm concerned that had it failed, the team could have just said, ‘Goodbye.' Luckily it's been pretty successful."

Lehan, who lends his voice to game announcements, said he always had wanted to announce baseball games, and the seasonal job takes care of that notch on his bucket list.

"I have nothing against the ballpark. It actually serves a great deal of residents, brings business to our hospitality community. There are so many good things," Lehan said.

At the time of the stadium's purchase, however, "monies were committed and some other things in the county, really when folks should have been sitting back and looking at where we [were] going to be in five or 10 years. It seemed to me it was just shy of … a spending spree."

msomers@somdnews.com

In the race

President

Candice Quinn Kelly (D)

Edith J. Patterson (D)

Jack Cheseldine (R)

Jim Thompson (R)

District 1

Sam Graves (D)

Ken Robinson (D)

Scot D. Lucas (R)

District 2

Bob Buehler (D)

Debra Davis (D)

Johnnie DeGiorgi (D)

Leo Bachi Eyombo (D)

Rick Campbell (R)

District 3

Latrina Carr (D)

Reuben B. Collins II (D)

Al Smith (D)

Joe Crawford (R)

Eric Vrem (R)

District 4

Vincent "Vinny" Ippolito (D)

Joe Lehan (D)

Bobby Rucci (D)

Ken Santill (D)

Don Derencin (R)