Dyson Town Meeting

Commissioner Dan Raley (D. Great Mills)

St. Mary's citizens turn out for a Town Meeting  at the Wildewood Center held by Senator Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary's, Calvert, Charles ). ST. MARY'S TODAY photo

Senator Roy Dyson learned politics from one of the masters, President Ronald Reagan.  Dyson is shown here at the White House talking with the late President after Dyson was elected to Congress at the age of 30.  One of the lessons Dyson said he learned was to listen to people. Dyson and Reagan were elected the same day and during both of Reagan's terms, Dyson was a key supporter of initiatives of Reagan, one of a group of about 45 Democrats who regularly crossed party lines to support Reagan.

Residents Hot Over School Site on Indian Bridge Road; Development in Rural Preservation Districts



By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY’S TODAY

CALIFORNIA --- A large crowd turned out on Thursday night at a Town Meeting called by Senator Roy Dyson (D. St. Mary’s, Calvert, Charles) to address issues of out-of-control growth in rural areas.
With only two days notice, the community meeting room at Wildewood was overflowing with residents gathered with virtually one thing on their mind: the effect of a burgeoning population on life in St. Mary’s County.
One person after another questioned the way the Board of Education and the St. Mary’s Commissioners have been approaching the choosing of a new school site.
Three St. Mary’s Commissioners attended the meeting, with some citizens blasting the board for various subjects including one man complaining that the county was attempting to keep out a Super Wal-Mart due to his family’s ownership of a chain of local grocery stores. He said the entire board of commissioners should be tossed out in the next election.
Other residents questioned why more development was being allowed in rural preservation districts in Morganza and in St. Inigoes.
A large housing project of what could eventually be more than 1300 homes is being proposed to connect to Rt. 5 just north of St. Joseph’s Church, which one citizen pointed out is an already dangerous place to travel due to driver speed, the curve and the hill.
Others spoke and said that the Indian Bridge Road site for a new school which has been pushed by St. Mary’s Commissioner Tommy McKay (R. Hollywood), isn’t suitable for a school, has no sewer and water available and impact the environment.
Dyson noted that the DNR could shut down the construction of a school at the site and has already issued a warning that could happen if the narrow mouth toad is determined to be disturbed.
Commissioner Dan Raley (D. Great Mills) told the group that the Board of Commissioners was very concerned about the unintended use of transfer of development rights (TDRs) in the rural preservation districts (RPD) and promised that pending applications for approvals in the RPD would be approached with caution on the part of the board.
Not wanting to prejudice the approval process, Raley, along with statements made by Commissioners Kenny Dement (R. Callaway) and Larry Jarboe (R. Golden Beach), declined from announcing how they would vote but told the group that they were listening to their concerns.
Dyson said that he has been hearing similar concerns all over the county and said that his recent announcement to seek a moratorium on any new major subdivisions in the rural preservation districts had been met with broad support.
“I had expected severe criticism over a moratorium proposal,” said Dyson, “but instead I have had plenty of people telling me it was the right step to take. We have to get a handle on our traffic problems. Those who say that a moratorium on growth will hurt us with the Navy and the BRAC process just don’t know what they are talking about. The Navy doesn’t care about our local zoning decisions, they only care about the impact on the areas immediately surrounding the base in terms of aircraft overflight.”
Dement told those in attendance that he was there to listen to their concerns and that they could rest assured that he and the other board members would show in future actions that they are not ignoring the public.
Jarboe and Raley both said that the current board had not approved any applications for water systems in rural areas that had come before them.
Such approvals are needed in order to build a 25 lot subdivision or larger in a RPD. Smaller such developments can be built with individual wells.
Don Beck is the developer proposing approval for a subdivision at St. Inigoes, with 46 lots proposed next to the Webster Field, which currently does not have an aircraft use and compatibility zone around it.
Congressman Steny Hoyer recently urged the county to safeguard Webster Field and restrict development nearby.
Senator Dyson said on Thursday that he was concerned that the should the county approve any further intrusions into the rural districts by large developments, it would cause overcrowding of schools, more pressure on traffic arteries and a deterioration of the quality of life.
Dyson has proposed that the county halt such development until plans are in place for funding a second span over the Patuxent River at Solomon’s Island, commuter rail service over the existing railroad right-of-way and traffic enforcement on local highways.
McKay has said he opposes commuter rail service as it would bring more people to the county and cause riff-raff to have access to the area.
Users of commuter rail service via MARC on trains throughout Maryland as well as Virginia Railway Express service are office and professional personnel of the type employed at the Patuxent River Naval Air Station.

Dyson said last week that such use of the railway would help Pax River be competitive in the BRAC process by tying Pax River into the metro area. He said rail service into Southern Maryland would take large numbers of vehicles off of area roadways by commuters using rail service over existing CSX tracks into Charles County as well as use of the old railroad right-of-way to Lexington Park.
Citizens told Dyson that they were unhappy with the way the Board of Education was selecting potential school sites and that a recent announcement that the school board had selected Indian Bridge Road for a new elementary school simply was the wrong one to make.
Others questioned how developers could make a deal with the county for approval of expansion of the development district.
One person told the Senator that the county should use the 16 acre site next to Great Mills High School for a new elementary school.
Raley and Jarboe noted that the county had other land it already owned which could be used and that the school board should consider building two-story buildings which would cut down on the land area needed for a new school.