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The fat lady’s still singing on Charles County road dispute
There’s more time to weigh in on a proposed new highway through Charles County that highlights the tensions between growth and environmental protection in Maryland.
The Army Corps of Engineers and Maryland Department of the Environment have announced they are extending the public comment period until Sept. 15 on the county’s request for a permit to destroy the wetlands as they build the four-lane highway across the creek. The public hearing July 31 in LaPlata reportedly was standing-room-only.
In case you missed the Sun story last April about the dispute, local officials say the Cross County Connector is needed to handle the traffic from 8,000 new homes planned along its route and to link the county’s growth areas. If the highway is not built, other roads will have to be widened or built, they say.
But opponents point out the highyway would clear 74 acres of forest in addition to destroying wetlands. They contend the $60 million project would threaten the Mattawoman, an important tributary of the Potomac River and one of the best remaining breeding streams in Maryland for yellow perch, a tasty little fish once plentiful in Chesapeake Bay.
Maybe it’s just coincidence, but yesterday came word of a blue-green algae bloom on the Mattawoman. Though naturally occurring, such algae blooms “may occur in nutrient rich environments”, according to the the county health department. Such blooms can be harmful if the microscopic plants are thick enough or if they produce toxins.
To make written comments on the highway project, go here.
Comments by The Quack: You'll see Cheryl found this days ago...
Posted by: The Quack on 08/19 at 05:22 AM
- 1. · wait a minute...
EIGHT THOUSAND new homes?!?!?!?
Holy cow...where did this come from...8,000(!)
The only thing I've seen disputed on here is about traffic flow and wetlands...Cheryl has made some claims about development, but I haven't seen any details...
8,000 new homes? wow...how did I miss that before?
Comment by shadowdiver on 08/19 at 09:53 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 2. · "local officials say the Cross County Connector is needed to handle the traffic from 8,000 new homes planned along its route and to link the county’s growth areas."
THIS is exactly the reason why they're pushing it so fervently!!
These 8,000 new homes are just the tip of the iceberg....Titanic went down when it "encountered" an iceberg - ditto for Charles County...
PLEASE write to the Corps and to MDE about this most egregious project...
Comment by cheryl on 08/19 at 09:59 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 3. · shadowdriver - to my knowledge most of those new homes will be built in the Bryans Road area, where the CCC extension will intersect with 210...I don't know where the reporter obtained this info, but maybe he's found out something!
However, the fact remains, that this new "development corridor" will enable more development to occur...ALL new roads eventually result in more development (unless they're in a protected area, i.e. a Parkway).
Hey you think that's bad? How about the 5,000 in the Heritage Green project in LaPlata, and the 10,000 "residential units" that are planned along Piney Church Road, Rt. 488 and the St. Charles Parkway connection to Rosewick Road??
Then looking further ahead, if (when) that new bridge is built connecting Charles County with Woodbridge VA, we'll see THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS MORE!!
In due time Charles County will implode upon itself, mostly because there won't be any water left!!!
Comment by cheryl on 08/19 at 10:08 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 4. · One more thing, the Indy also reported the 8,000 new homes alongside the CCC extension a few weeks ago...
Comment by cheryl on 08/19 at 10:11 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 5. · okay- I too missed the 8,000 number- HOW, I dont know. But I bet a lot of others did too.
Where are the schools for 8000 kids?- even this new road wouldnt handle 16,000 extra cars a day would it?
I contacted a realtor yesterday for our chosen area to move too. CRAZY.
I guess I have to hang onto the house here for a few more years till the value goes up- or will it go down with that many NEW homes?
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/19 at 02:49 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 6. · Make your move now. While you house is down in price--so are others. When your house goes up in price--so will others. The only way to make out is to move to a cheaper region of the Country--which is not hard to find since Maryland is #4 or #5 in the most expensive States to reside. That leaves about 45 States to choose from. Oh, and if you are worried about leaving your family and friends just tell them about the closest airport that they can reach you at. Otherwise, I guess you'll just have to worry about development and running out of water.
Comment by Iamangttia on 08/19 at 03:00 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 7. · Hey Cheryl,
You seem to be point person on this...have you researched the SDAT tax records or the land records at the courthouse to see who owns the land near the proposed CCC alignment?
Is it all in the hands of developers already? If so are they commercial developers or residential?
Comment by shadowdiver on 08/19 at 04:48 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 8. · No I haven't. I have read and heard from reliable sources that a lot of the property is owned by developers and/or developer interests, i.e. real estate brokers etc., but I personally haven't researched this and can't give a definitive answer.
HOWEVER, the Mattawoman Watershed Society at: mattawomanwatershedsociety.org should have this info.
They know EVERYTHING pertaining to this project!
Comment by cheryl on 08/19 at 05:02 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 9. · My plan hopefully Imagination is:
Find land or a house that is depressed in price- buy it now- hang onto the home here and when this goes up, sell.
Of course all plans are just plans- the search may be long. WE have it narrowed down to 2 large areas in 2 different states.
So we will see. I do hate to leave friends I have made just lately- and my grandbabies.
But good Lord this place is ridiculous isnt it?
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/19 at 07:20 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 10. · "Find land or a house that is depressed in price- buy it now- hang onto the home here and when this goes up, sell."
Good idea--just remember that there are professionals called 'investors' who are looking everyday so, you will have to get up pretty early in the morning to beat them to that land or house that is depressed in price. Occasionally a layman gets lucky--so good luck.
Comment by Iamangttia on 08/19 at 08:29 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 11. · Ive done it 6 times in the past, so maybe i'LL GET LUCKY AGAIN.
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/19 at 08:35 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 12. · Well then you're not a layman in this field. You are the professional investor. In that case, you don't need luck because you already have the experience. Well, maybe you will need some luck. After 6 times and you still can't figure out how to flip land or a house somewhere else but in Maryland, maybe the 7th time will be the charm.
Comment by Iamangttia on 08/19 at 09:58 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 13. · oh, not just in Maryland- all over.
but I dont consider it flipping. We lived in them the whole time- sometimes for a few years.
No risking other than a mortgage and fix only when I saved up the money for the job.
Flipping is risky and you have debt.
I"m a conservative cheap-skate.
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/19 at 10:01 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 14. · Doesn't Maryland charge some kind fee when people move out of the state?
I have friends who have moved to other states and they were charged some kind of fee/tax just for moving out of Maryland!!
Comment by cheryl on 08/20 at 07:26 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 15. · I think that fee is paid in advance....its called increased taxes, that gets you to pay more money to get you to leave
Comment by anserman on 08/20 at 08:16 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 16. · Yeah I get it!
But seriously, they really did have to pay some kind of state fee or something for moving out of the state. I don't remember exactly what it was called, but it was something like 4% of the sales price of the house, paid at settlement.
Are there any tax or real estate people here who can elaborate??
Comment by cheryl on 08/20 at 08:28 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 17. · there is all kind of fees at settlement- Imagination can probably help with that.
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/20 at 04:28 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 18. · Latest News:
Monday, April 7, 2008
Baltimore Sun
Highway Threatens Creek Filled With Life
Connector Could Foul Mattawoman in Southern Maryland
By Tom Pelton
Every spring, ribbons of yellow perch eggs flutter in Mattawoman Creek like golden silk stockings. Each comprises thousands of eggs, glassy orbs holding tiny embryos.
The Southern Maryland stream is one of the most fertile fish breeding grounds in the Chesapeake Bay region. But state and federal officials warn that it could be destroyed if Charles County carries out its plan to build a four-lane highway across the creek to help serve at least 8,000 new homes planned in the area.
"There would be dire consequences on the quality of life in the stream," said Paul Wettlaufer, a manager with the Baltimore branch of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The $60 million road project and the houses are likely to increase runoff pollution in the creek by 50 percent, killing fish in an important Potomac River tributary, according to state and federal officials.
But the county's commissioners are determined to proceed. They say the east-west connector has been planned for more than a decade and would help prevent traffic congestion as exurbia inevitably marches south from Washington.
"We can't stop growth, but we can guide growth," said Charles County Commissioner Gary V. Hodge. "And this is where we want the development focused."
To some current and former state officials, the case highlights weaknesses in state laws designed to control suburban sprawl and protect the Chesapeake Bay. During the past 30 years, the state has bought more than 4,700 acres around Mattawoman Creek in an effort to stop development, protect water quality and shelter wildlife.
But some areas that the state has recommended for protection are being targeted by Charles County for future development. When the growth goals of local governments clash with state conservation efforts, the system is designed to give more power to the local governments.
One of the rare opportunities for state and federal oversight will be tested in coming weeks when the Maryland Department of the Environment and the Army Corps of Engineers decide whether to grant a permit allowing Charles County to destroy seven acres of wetlands around the creek to build a key six-mile section of the Cross County Connector. The four-lane, limited access road would replace 74 acres of forest with a strip of blacktop as it links proposed subdivisions to the malls in Waldorf.
Comment by Jack W. on 08/20 at 05:10 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 19. · MORE
Environmentalists are urging the state and federal governments to deny the permit and save the wetlands. They say the county should first study the impact on fish and that it should consider widening a road to the north instead of building a new highway. But Charles County officials say the request for more study is really an attempt to stop growth, which they want in this northern section of the county, nearest Washington.
Charles County's population of 145,000 is expected to grow by nearly 50 percent by 2030, one of the fastest rates in the state. Melvin "Chuck" Beall Jr., the local director of planning, said the commissioners since 1990 have been trying to direct 75 percent of this growth into a development district in the northern county so that the southern part can be kept rural.
"If this road is not built, other roads would be built to accommodate the circulation of the citizens. And multiple roads would have more of an environmental impact than one road with a higher capacity," Beall said.
Eleven subdivisions with 2,513 homes are proposed or under construction with the assumption they could connect to the new road. Another 27 subdivisions with 2,971 units are planned or built nearby. Further, about 2,400 homes are expected at the western end of the connector in the community in Bryans Road. The county says thousands more are likely to be built nearby.
This part of the county is vital for economic growth, local officials say. It's just north of the area's biggest employer, the U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Center, where 4,000 people work, many making missile fuel and explosives. To help create more defense-related jobs, the county wants to build a 250-acre high-tech business park between the Navy base and the proposed highway.
Gary Setzer, administrator of wetlands programs at the Maryland Department of the Environment, said before the new road can be built, his agency must certify that runoff pollution will not violate water quality standards in Mattawoman Creek.
Since the 1970s, the state has been trying to protect large chunks of northern Charles County. The Mattawoman Creek watershed is about 70 percent forested, which helps to protect the stream from runoff pollution. From 1975 to 1997, the state purchased 2,509 acres lining the stream to prevent development and protect wildlife.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has called Mattawoman Creek "the best, most productive tributary in the bay." More than 50 species of fish breed in the stream's 20 miles of shady wanderings, including yellow perch and largemouth bass. The bass are so numerous they draw scores of fishermen to national fishing tournaments every year along the creek.
"Mattawoman Creek is so important for us, especially in protecting the largemouth bass population," said Mary Groves, a biologist at the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. "You can't afford to have any great impact there from development and runoff."
The stream valley also boasts the richest variety of reptiles of any place surveyed in the state, with 18 species, including marbled salamanders and southern leopard frogs, according to a department report.
In 1998, the state under Gov. Parris N. Glendening spent $25 million to buy another 2,225 acres of forested land in the middle of the county's growth district and stop a 4,600-home subdivision called Chapman's Landing. County officials opposed the preservation of this land, which is north of Mattawoman Creek.
Glendening says continued development in the area is an example of a weakness in his 1997 "Smart Growth" law, as well other state efforts to control sprawl.
"The danger is we're going to lose these areas for all future generations," Glendening said. "The state is buying up land to preserve it, but it doesn't work unless the local government enters into the same philosophy."
On a sunny, crisp morning recently, a dozen fishermen gathered along the muddy banks of the creek a few miles downstream from the proposed highway crossing. The stream was brimming with perch eggs.
Ken Hastings, a coordinator with the Coastal Conservation Association, reached into the water, scooped up one of the glistening ribbons and examined the fish embryos through a magnifying glass. He said he worries that oil, gas, dirt, fertilizer and hot water gushing off the highway and new subdivisions will transform this river of life into a sterile ditch.
"The fish will just disappear," he said.
Comment by Jack W. on 08/20 at 05:13 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 20. · Thanks Jack!
I knew I had read somewhere about all those homes, and it was also in the Indy a few weeks ago.
So obviously Hodge is either lying or he doesn't know what he's talking about when he says "there are no plans to open that arear denser development".
Any way you look at it, there WILL be development alongside the highway, and LOTS of it.
Comment by cheryl on 08/20 at 05:42 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 21. · The quote should read: "there are no plans to open that area for denser development" -
Other than that the rest remains as written....
Comment by cheryl on 08/20 at 05:44 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 22. · maybe what he said is factual in his mind.
these homes are already in the plans- period- in their mind.
So therefore this statement:
there are no plans to open that area for denser development
could be true technically.
There are no plans to open the area to denser development ((than that which is already pLanned))
Thats politican speak for not lying- you know it depends on what "is" "is.
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/20 at 07:22 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 23. · BJG - SPOKEN LIKE A TRUE POLITICIAN!!!!
Comment by cheryl on 08/21 at 06:40 AM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 24. · I learn easily from those who speak with mixed messages!
You just have to pay close attention - that way they can always say they speak the truth.
Even if morally they are not.
A man must learn to understand the motives of human beings, their illusions, and their sufferings. einstein
Comment by BJGoodwin on 08/21 at 12:05 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main] - 25. · Speaking of mixed messages - what about Hodge saying in the Indy that there aren't any plans for denser development along the CCC extension?
In my opinion, this is a blatant "falsehood" otherwise known to most of us as a LIE!
This is why I say this - the Baltimore Sun reported back in April the following:
"that the Mattawoman Creek “could be destroyed if Charles County carries out its plan to build a four-lane highway across the creek to help serve at least 8,000 new homes planned in the area.”
The article goes on to say that “Eleven subdivisions with 2,513 homes are proposed or under construction with the assumption they could connect to the new road. Another 27 subdivisions with 2,971 units are planned or built nearby. Further, about 2,400 homes are expected at the western end of the connector in the community in Bryans Road. The county says thousands more are likely to be built nearby.”
I seriously doubt that the Sun would print something like this unless it had been thoroughly checked out.
So, it looks as though Hodge and the other Çommissioners are trying their damndest to convince people that this is just a a "safety" issue and nothing else....well anyone who believes that line of horse manure - I have some prime mountain property I'll sell you for $1.00 !!!!
Comment by cheryl on 08/21 at 12:48 PM | [Back to Top] | [Back to Main]
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