By Christy Goodman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, November 23, 2008

Calvert County and the Chesapeake Church might have found a solution in their battle over an unauthorized driveway used by the church's food pantry and counseling center: a driveway that doesn't exist.

In a three-year fight in state and federal courts, the county and church, off Route 2/4 in Huntingtown, have wrangled over public access to the pantry and counseling center.

The county, in an effort to reduce crashes on the thoroughfare, has said that no additional entrances along Route 2/4 should be built. County officials wanted the church and its adjacent pantry and counseling center to share a driveway. But church officials refused, saying that the food bank and center are used by people who aren't necessarily church members and that a combined driveway might deter clients from visiting the pantry and center.

As a result, the pantry and counseling center have been using a driveway separate from the church's since 2005 without the necessary county plans or permits.

But a 1986 plat recording shows that the pantry and center and a neighboring property to the south are supposed to share a driveway from Route 2/4. But that road doesn't exist, and the private property owner has been using another driveway without proper documentation. As a result, the driveways that each property is using are illegal.

County officials have proposed building the shared driveway that was mapped out in 1986.

"It appears that . . . there is a solution to all our concerns about access that has not been obvious to any of us to date," said David K. Humphreys, Calvert's planning administrator, in a Nov. 14 e-mail to Robert P. Hahn, pastor at Chesapeake Church. "Namely, submission of a site plan which provides combined access."

Humphreys also said in the e-mail that based on preliminary discussions, the State Highway Administration would find the arrangement acceptable. The private property owner's identity was not known.

County and church officials will meet this week to discuss the possible solution, Humphreys said in an interview.

"We are trying to work through it in good faith, and we think the county is trying to do the same," said Eric Nestor, a lawyer representing the church. "We are optimistic that this will get resolved."