Planned golfing community shifts to green features

Wednesday, Nov. 28, 2007

When the Charles County commissioners last saw the project in June, it was pitched as the Port Tobacco Country Club, a cluster of 350 houses, an equestrian center and a championship golf course straddling Route 227 and dispersed on 900 acres between the feeder streams of the pristine Mattawoman Creek.

The developers asked the commissioners to lift a temporary zoning restriction on the property, known as the deferred development district, to allow development of the project. However, members of the Mattawoman Watershed Society successfully lobbied the commissioners to delay making a decision on the project.

The commissioners agreed to hold a public hearing and allow the society and other citizens to air their concerns about the likely negative impacts the development would have on the creek.

But the hearing never happened, because the project was withdrawn.

On Tuesday, attorney Steve Scott and planner Jay Parker returned to the commissioners with a new plan for a development called The Preserve at Green Spring. Gone were the golf course and equestrian center, and in their place were 250 more homes.

‘‘There was some reaction to our proposal to build a golf course on this property,” Scott told the commissioners. ‘‘We’ve kind of done a re-thinking of our project.

‘‘We have taken a new look at the land,” Parker continued. ‘‘The concept is to create an environmentally sensitive community.”

Parker said that the new plan would pull development further back from the banks of the creek and use several environmentally friendly techniques to limit impacts from stormwater and irrigation runoff, including pervious paving, rain gardens and small lawns.

‘‘Lawns are tremendously environmentally problematic,” Parker said, noting that they have to be fertilized and mowed.

The plan also calls for several touches that would add to the green feel of the development, including a nature trail, rough-hewn outdoor furniture and an environmental education center in the neighborhood clubhouse.

The plan still calls for large houses, pools, tennis courts and six traffic bridges to cross all of the streams. It would also still preserve 75 acres as open space and 10 acres for youth sports fields.

‘‘We think that this is not just in the interest of the environment of Charles County, but also in the enlightened self interest of developers,” Parker said, speculating that the project could serve as an example to future developments in the county.

Both Scott and Parker said they were willing to work with local environmental groups to ensure that the plan is environmentally sound.

‘‘It appears to me that you made a sincere effort to respond to some of the concerns that were raised,” said Commissioner Gary V. Hodge, praising the developers. ‘‘This board is, of course, committed to protecting the Mattawoman Creek.”

Hodge (D) called for the board to schedule a new public hearing for the latest plan, and the commissioner agreed.

‘‘I’m very proud of the county commissioners,” said Bonnie Bick, spokeswoman for the Mattawoman Watershed Society.

She praised the board for upholding its summer vote to hold a public hearing before lifting the development restrictions on the property. The commissioners are not required by law to hold a public hearing on the zoning matter, since it is not a change in the underlying zoning.

Bick said she was encouraged by the changes to the development plan but remained wary of the amount of impervious surface it would bring to the property.

‘‘Fifteen percent is very high,” Bick said of the amount proposed by the developers. She said that the development should aim for a 10 percent level in order to avoid impacting the Mattawoman watershed.

E-mail Jay Friess at jfriess@somdnews.com.