ST. MARY’S TODAY

LEONARDTOWN --- The Critical Areas Commission at its meeting on September 6 penalized St. Mary’s County and asked it to mitigate by three to one for an after-the-fact violation of the Critical Areas Act.

“It was not anyone’s fault. Nobody wanted things to happen this way,” Commissioner President Tommy McKay told the St. Mary’s Board of County Commissioners.

The commission was upset it was an after-the-fact variance, McKay who has been a member of the commission since 2003. The Environmental Law Clinic has already given poor marks to McKay for handling of critical areas issues.

McKay said the Board of Education needs to understand the critical area process better and the violation happened while building a parking lot.

He said he did try to plead with the commission that the county puts the safety of children first, but to no avail. “The commission decided to impose a three-to-one mitigation,” he said.

McKay said the county was never penalized in this manner before. He said the way the matter turned out was not in anyone’s interest.