By Guy Leonard, County Times
HOLLYWOOD, Md. (April 10, 2008)—A proposed 212-acre, mixed use development near the intersection of Route 235 and Hermanville Road is one step closer to overall approval since the St. Mary’s County Board of County Commissioners approved it to connect to county water and sewer.
The Glazed Pine project has been in the development review process since 2005 and must still go before the county Planning Commission for final approval. Guy Curley, of Liberty Home Builder, the developer of the project, has modified his original plan to just 248 housing units along with 1.2 million square feet of office space.
The original plan, which was rejected by the county, called for 1,100 housing units.
“I’m optimistic the revised plan will get approval in the near future,” Curley told The County Times.
Jeff Jackman, senior planner with the Department of Land Use and Growth Management, said that after assessing the limited water and sewage capacity available at the Marlay-Taylor treatment facility, the Glazed Pine development would not take up to much capacity.
“We feel confident we have enough adequate public facilities to support the development,” Jackman said.
The Metropolitan Commission is making plans to expand the facility to come into compliance with state mandates for new wastewater treatment technologies to be added as well as to keep up with increasing development demand.
But cost increases have caused the commission to seek ways to trim what was at one point a $125 million price tag.
The entire project is expected, according to staff reports from Land Use and Growth Management, to take up 548 equivalent dwelling units of sewer and water usage.
In its original form the development raised the concerns of the U.S. Navy at Patuxent River Naval Air Station that the project was to large and to close to the base’s air operations.
Planning staff reports state that the developer’s new plan comes into compliance with the AICUZ conditions.