Smithfields Apartments
The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission will review a concept site plan on September 14 for a 76-unit apartment complex on Hermanville Road that was originally approved nearly 19 years ago.
Smithfields Apartments is planned for approximately 6.5 acres at 20741 Hermanville Road in Lexington Park, near the Greenbriar neighborhood. The property is owned and being developed by Smithfields, LLC. Currently, there are over a dozen trailers on the property that would be removed prior to construction.
The Planning Commission originally approved the 76-unit project March 31, 2008. Since then, the property owner has received multiple extensions of the approval. The most recent extension expired Oct. 4, 2023.
The current concept plan, revised in 2026, includes three three-story apartment buildings, each containing 24 two-bedroom units. One of the buildings is identified as workforce housing. A smaller, one-story building near Hermanville Road would contain a leasing office and recreation center, along with two one-bedroom and two three-bedroom apartments.
Concept site plan
The plan provides 145 parking spaces for residents and guests. While the physical layout has changed, the traffic analysis accompanying the project has not.
An adequate public facilities report prepared in November 2007 estimated the development would generate 492 vehicle trips per day. The report concluded that a formal traffic study was not warranted because the project was expected to generate fewer than 50 trips per hour, citing policies from the Department of Public Works & Transportation.
The APF report was updated in February 2026, but the estimated number of daily vehicle trips remains 492.
A February 2026 letter from Little Silences Rest, the project's engineering firm, states that the firm notified the developer that “it may be a good idea to have the traffic impact study updated.” The developer ultimately decided not to update the study, according to the letter, because it felt development in the area had not changed since the original study was completed in 2008.
Although the department determined that a formal traffic impact study is not required, roads serving the project must operate at a minimum level of service of D. DPWT reported that all nearby intersections currently operate at an A level of service.
Concept rendering
The updated APF report estimates that the apartments could house 16 elementary school students, 12 middle school students and 12 high school students. The report does not identify the specific schools those students would attend.
The project also requires seven transferable development rights, or TDRs, to achieve the density proposed for the full buildout.
The county's TDR program allows owners of property zoned for rural preservation to sell development rights rather than develop the property themselves. Generally, property owners receive one TDR for every five acres.
Developers can purchase TDRs directly from property owners and negotiate a price, or they can pay the county a fee in lieu of purchasing a TDR. The money is deposited into the county's Open Lands Trust Fund.
The FY26 fee-in-lieu rate is $5,280 per TDR, a rate set by the County Commissioners in September 2025. At that rate, seven TDRs would cost $36,960 if the developer chose the fee-in-lieu option.
Under the county's TDR ordinance, the fee-in-lieu rate must be set at 120% of the average fair market value. The FY25 rate was $4,861.02, based on a fair market value that had been used for three years. There were 137 fee-in-lieu transactions with the county during FY25.
The Department of Economic Development maintains a list of TDR owners willing to sell development rights, including St. Mary's County Government. Developers may contact property owners directly to negotiate a purchase price or use the county's fee-in-lieu option.
The September 14 public hearing will begin at 6:30pm at 41770 Baldridge Street in Leonardtown. Comments can be submitted electronically to megan.higgs-carter@stmaryscountymd.gov for inclusion in the record.
