Board of Appeals Expands Trucking Operation in Residential Area
LEONARDTOWN — Gene St. Clair told the St. Mary’s Zoning Board of Appeals he had sent letters to neigbhors of a gravel mining operation he bought from Raymond Woodburn listing improvements to Burnt Mill Road he planned to make if he is given approval to increase the number of heavy trucks he is allowed to have travel on the road to his gravel pit.
In addition to agreeing to tar and chip the roadway, he agreed to provide work on the ditches along the roadway and to give his cell phone number to the residents in case truck drivers speed as they make up to forty trips in and forty trips out each day.
While several neighbors supported St. Clair’s proposal a few opposed it, citing increased noise, dust and worries about speeding dump trucks. One woman said she was concerned about her children being able to ride their horses on the country lane.
A man who said he shoes horses said that horses can walk as easily on pavement as a gravel lane. Another supporter came to the podium to counter the horse owner’s objection by noting that horses could travel on the grass shoulders and trails in nearby woods.
Supporters of the expansion of the gravel mine centered their support on promises from St. Clair to improve the road which some of them said was substandard and sometimes difficult to use.
The site is located just off of Macintosh Road in Hollywood.
One neighbor said that the biggest danger in the neighborhood were speeding state troopers who come flying off the top of the hill on Macintosh Road, just north of Burnt Mill Road, apparently on their way to the State Police Barracks in Leonardtown.
Another neighbor said she was concerned about what the increased traffic would do to property values.
The late developer Oliver Guyther sold the property to Woodburn who operated the gravel pit, about 25 years ago. The gravel mining operation needed a conditional use approval to expand the number of trucks allowed each day to travel to and from the 80 acre parcel. The original subdivision was approved at eight lots and the question of one member as to how the gravel mine was originally approved went unanswered.
Board Members Ronald Delahay and Mike Hewitt argued persuasively to allow St. Clair to expand his operation despite the objections of his neighbors and the Board gave it’s okay.
Details of Location: End of Burnt Mill Dr., approximately 2 miles north of its
intersection with McIntosh Road
Parcel identification: tax map: 25 block: 16 parcel: 249
Election District: 3rd
Zoning: Rural Preservation District (RPD)
Acreage: 80 acres
Action requested: Amendment to an approved Conditional Use pursuant to Chapter 25 of the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance to increase the number of truckloads.