Commissioners Likely to Block Land Use, METCOM Proposals

ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN — St. Mary’s county is not Burger King and citizens here won’t get it the way they like it on their properties, some county bureaucrats seem to be suggesting.
All commissioners, newly elected and wanting to assure each citizen they did not make a mistake by choosing them are looking at things differently, than how Land Use and Growth Management Director Denis Canavan and incredibly this time, St. Mary’s Metroplitan Commission (METCOM) chief Steve King, were looking through their official prisms.
Though yet to take his oath, commissioner president-elect Jack Russell was present at both meetings. Russell was there at the planning commission ten days ago at which at which a Canavan-backed METCOM proposal of shoving down a costly water pipeline down the throat of citizens was made and also at a second meeting on a multimillion water and sewer connection.
Both moves benefit developers.
“I have promised to put the community first,” Russell told ST. MARY’S TODAY. He said there was no doubt in his mind developers form part of the community, but pledged he would never try to do anything that would undermine the good of the community.
Russell said many people present at the Hollywood Firehouse were unhappy over the presentation made by King on Tuesday evening.
He said a bill was pending in the senate on making the field a level playing field, but an amendment got it delayed and the bill could not be adopted. He said the same bill was again the legislative package and hoped it would pass through the state legislature.
“We will not let that happen,” Commissioner Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach) told ST. MARY’S about the Mohawk Drive proposal.
Dan Raley said the Hollywood proposal has yet to pass through the planning commission and later come up for public hearing at ST. MARY’S BOARD of County Commissioners.
When will they have existing sewer and water.
“I will review the minutes,” Raley said.
He said, “I am believer in the saying ‘The less government, the better’.”
Raley said the two controversial proposals were not a done deal yet as the commissioners will review it.
I haven’t seen the presentation they did,” said Tom Mattingly (D. Leonardtown). “I am not sure about the details. I do understand there are lot of concerns about them.
He said the on proposal and counter-proposal dealing with the Mohawk Drive, there were quite a bit of concern. “I have concerns over the proposals for the public water system,” he said.
Mattingly was optimistic when the proposals come out before the board at a public hearing some point of time and eventually be resolved to the satisfaction of St. Mary’s residents.
Officials in St. Mary’s are seen to be in the habit of passing the buck on to the taxpayers, even when it’s clearly their own mistake, as was seen in the case of Trader’s Decorating Company, when a young businessman of Korean descent was penalized over a signage outside his business at San Soucci Plaza. The mistake was clearly that of department of Land Use and Growth Management. But the county told the business owner to take down his signs at a cost of over $10,000, with the business located in a shopping center that has been in existence for more than 20 years.