Charles Planners Approve Rezoning
Hughesville Site Would Be 'Heavy Industrial'

By Megan Greenwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, May 11, 2008

Chaney Enterprises' request to rezone a 150-acre swath of Hughesville is headed to the Charles County Commissioners after receiving Planning Commission approval last week.

The county Planning Commission voted, 5 to 2, to recommend that the commissioners approve the proposal, which would rezone a piece of land just west of the Brookleigh Woods subdivision, allowing "heavy industrial" purposes. The change would allow Chaney to move a gravel-washing pit from Waldorf to the Hughesville land, which is now zoned as agricultural.

A Chaney spokesman said officials were pleased with the Planning Commission vote, but he emphasized that no decisions have been made on what to do with the Hughesville property, which the company owns. The company is exploring options for relocating gravel-washing equipment from Waldorf in the event that the county builds a proposed extension of Post Office Road through Chaney's current site, between Acton Lane and Mattawoman-Beantown Road.

"Using the Hughesville land is at best a Plan B, and most likely a Plan C," said Steve Pripp, a Chaney spokesman. "Plans are extremely fluid right now."

Chaney officials said they think moving operations off the land in Waldorf would be beneficial to the company and the county. In a letter sent to the Planning Commission before Monday's vote, company Chairman Frank Chaney II said that the road extension would help relieve traffic congestion in Waldorf, which Pripp added would save Chaney money.

"We realize that property is in the heart of Waldorf, and it's a great piece of property for the county," Pripp said. "And when dump trucks, at the mileage they get, are sitting at stoplights, it doesn't help us, either."

To win Planning Commission support for the project, Chaney said that a substantial change in the character of the area around its Hughesville land provided an opening for rezoning. Hughesville, once a flourishing village with several small businesses, has struggled in recent years because of the Maryland tobacco buyout, which shut many farms, and because of the Hughesville Bypass, which diverted traffic from the town's commercial district along Leonardtown Road.

Louis Grasso, a Planning Commission member who voted in favor of the rezoning, said that based on the county's formula for zoning changes, he saw no choice but to approve the Chaney proposal. He said increased traffic coming through Hughesville from Calvert County, the decline of local businesses and a previous zoning change in the area all contributed to a significant change of character.

"I don't like to see change either, but, unfortunately, it's happened, and it's very easy for those of us who have been in the county for a long time to see," Grasso said. "My opinion is that they easily met the criteria for a change in the neighborhood."

Still, the proposal drew significant opposition from Hughesville residents, whose arguments were persuasive to two Planning Commission members. About 100 residents publicly raised concerns about the project, during public hearings or in written comments, and several said they were disappointed with the result.

"The buyout and the traffic change were just something they latched onto to get what they wanted," said Donna Cave, one of the most vocal opponents of Chaney's proposal. "If you're going to go by increased traffic, the entire county should be rezoned."

Raymond F. Detig, the Planning Commission chairman, sided with Cave and many of her neighbors. He said that although parts of Hughesville have undergone major changes, the area immediately surrounding the Chaney site has not.

"To a large degree, it's still an agricultural-type community, so agricultural zoning makes sense," Detig said.

Cave said she and her neighbors will continue to voice their opposition to the county commissioners as the zoning issue works its way through a public hearing and vote. County spokeswoman Crystal Hill said the public hearing has not been scheduled.