The St. Mary’s County Board of Appeals will review a concept site plan Thursday for Bradley Brooke, a 223-unit residential development proposed off Willows Road. In January, the Planning Commission denied the concept plan in a 4-3 vote, citing concerns about traffic, emergency response and impacts to Naval Air Station Patuxent River.

Bradley Brooke is the latest in a series of residential projects denied by county boards whose members are appointed by the County Commissioners and serve on a voluntary basis. Attorney Chris Longmore, representing Gambrills-based developer K. Hovnanian Mid-Atlantic Division LLC, filed a notice of appeal with the county outlining the basis for the appeal.

According to Longmore, the Planning Commission “considered information that was not within the record,” including “the personal opinions and experiences of individual” commission members. Longmore also argued the commission “considered information…that was irrelevant to the application,” such as future “potential changes in law.”

A major point of discussion was the proximity of 23 single-family homes to the Air Installation Compatible Use Zone 65-70 decibel noise contour area, where development is not recommended by the Navy. The noise contours are based on a 2019 Navy study that the county never officially adopted into local law. NAS Patuxent River Commanding Officer Capt. Mark Zematis testified before the commission that he could not confirm the completion date of an updated AICUZ study but said it would likely be sometime this spring.

The applicant agreed to use noise-canceling construction materials and provide a real estate disclosure for the 23 homes within the AICUZ area. The Navy suggested removing those homes from the plans entirely.

In addition to the concept plan, the Board of Appeals will review a major subdivision plan to divide the property into 223 individual lots. Of the site’s 76 acres, approximately half would be developed. The remaining land would remain open space, much of it consisting of steep slopes that are difficult to build on.

The board will also consider a requested variance to reduce street frontage for each lot from the 200-foot minimum required by the zoning ordinance to 80 feet. A letter from the project’s engineering firm, Soltesz, states that the constraint of using Bradley Boulevard as the point of entry makes the project unique. Without the variance, the project would need to “abandon the townhouses altogether, creating practical difficulty and eliminating more affordable units from the development.”

Nearly 900 pages of meeting documents are available online, including more than a dozen pages of questions submitted across four separate documents. The questions address traffic, water and sewer service, economic development, school capacity and upcoming developments, and include inquiries directed to county departments, the school system, the Navy and the developer.

The Board of Appeals will meet on Thursday, March 26 at 6:30PM in the Chesapeake Building at 41770 Baldridge Street in Leonardtown. If you have comments about the development, attend the meeting or send an email to sherrie.young@stmaryscountymd.gov

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