Roadway’s purpose is to manage growth, not promote it

Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2008

The purpose of the cross-county connector is to build a safe and efficient connector road between western Charles County and Waldorf that will be planned, designed and engineered to protect our environmental resources.

The cross-county connector is part of our comprehensive transportation strategy and our local mobility program. The final six-mile segment is a connector road, not a growth corridor.

Its purpose is not to promote growth but to manage growth. The alignment of Billingsley Road, the only current east-west route at this location, is extremely dangerous and needs to be replaced.

Protecting the safety of the public is one of our primary duties as elected officials. We plan to build a safe and efficient connector road linking Waldorf and western Charles County.

Historically, western Charles County has been outside the mainstream of economic prosperity and employment opportunities enjoyed by the rest of the county, especially the residents of Waldorf and La Plata.

The haphazard and independent construction of separate access roads to developments that have been approved and zoned in the past, is a potentially far more serious threat to the Mattawoman Creek than building a new road that is deliberately planned, designed and engineered to minimize harm to the environment.

The county has already reduced the wetland impacts of the connector from just under 14 acres down to seven acres, which will be mitigated and replaced.

The county has been both conscientious and thorough in performing a NEPA-type study in 1997, and very responsive in answering subsequent requests from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.

The deferred development district is nearby to the south, but will not be impacted by the cross-county connector project. There are no plans to open that area for denser development, since there is already enough land in the development district to accommodate the growth and development forecast over the next 25 years.

Just two days ago the county commissioners confirmed this commitment when we voted not to approve zoning for a proposed new development in the deferred development district, and stated our intention to repeal the ordinance setting conditions for opening the deferred development district to denser development. We intend to focus future growth in the development district and the Waldorf urban core, and control sprawl into the sensitive environmental areas of the county.

Further delay in granting the permit to begin the final segment of this project will put additional financial burdens on the citizens of Charles County. The achievement of Charles County’s public safety, transportation, growth management, environmental protection and economic development goals requires urgent action to move this project forward.

Gary V. Hodge, La Plata