LA PLATA, Md. (Dec. 20, 2007)—The Facchina family of Charles County announced that they are in the process of donating 179 acres in St. Mary’s County to the Maryland Environmental Trust (MET). Known as the “Boy Scout Property,” the paperwork is in progress to dedicate the tract of development land.
The parcel, located just south of the Naval Air Station at Patuxent River and east of highway 235, has 950 feet of frontage on the Chesapeake Bay making it a vital part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed and ecosystem. The land is also seen as a key bridge parcel by St. Mary’s county connecting the Mattapany Rural Legacy Area and providing a further buffer between the expanding operations of the military base and the community.
Under PUD planning for residential development the parcel would accommodate up to 258 dwelling units; with inclusion into the MET program the parcel will now be limited to four residential units.
In donating the land into the Trust program, Paul V. Facchina, Sr. said “I am glad we were able to work with MET and St. Mary’s County to conserve this vital property while also benefiting the County’s Rural Legacy program, the Naval Air Station’s buffer zone and the Chesapeake Bay Critical Protection Area.”
Facchina, founder and CEO of the Facchina Group of Companies, and his family have been the single largest donators of land development rights into the Maryland Environment Trust (MET) since its inception in 1967. To date the total dedications have surpassed 1,925 acres in Southern Maryland.
Previously, Paul Facchina Sr. on behalf of the Facchina family donated his first four environment easements in Charles County in 1996 and 1999 preserving the historical 400-acre Mt. Air plantation occupied by his family. In 2003 he donated an easement on 327 acres in the Gunston area and in 2004 he granted another easement of 233 acres on the Nanjemoy River known as Audubon Woods. Facchina’s first St. Mary’s County donation was significant because it protected 222 acres as part of the headwater streams of the St. Mary’s River and provided habitat protection for forest interior dwelling birds.