Unite and Protect!

[Aimhigh2000]

Ok, this one has me steamed, and I don't get steamed very often. I just read about how the county bought some land years ago from a family (basically made them sell and move) on Indian Bridge Road so the land would be "protected." Now, they want to build a school on this "protected" land. I say BS to that. I say the county should give it back to the family before they rip it up and build a school. Now, I am not against schools or children, heavens no, but I am fed up with our county destroying our land without rhyme or reason. I have never been an environmentalist or activist, but darn it, I say we fight "city hall" and protect our watersheds. Our county government has allowed developers to exploit our land (really) starting in the 1980's. They have allowed farms to become communities without provisions of schools and roads and look where we are now. Ya want a high school? Well, instead of a Home Depot across from Wildewood, how about a school there. You need an elementary school? How about the land on the corner of Rt. 4 and 235? or 235 and Shady Mile Drive? There's an idea. How about the North End? Hmmm, well, how about the land across from the Amish Market? Leave our forrests alone and do things wisely, and how about looking 20 years down the road instead of 5? My apologies for my rant, but this really has me steamed. :angry:

 

[Oz]

There would be no additional clearing of the Indian Bridge property. From the design I've seen, they will also have green parking lots.

So you would prefer to spend millions of our tax money, versus using existing property that it owned by the county or state? Our school board, and our county just can't afford the commercial property you mentioned. Commercial property in a DD is worth $80-$150,000 per acre. Elementary School sites are 30-50 acres. Simple math at $80,000 times 30 acres is $2.4 million dollars before any site prep begins. The only way anyone can afford property like that is if they have a commercial use for it.

Here's the alternative - build an Elementary school down by Spring Ridge Middle school. The county owns enough land there too. Then, you shift and redistrict all of the children to other schools. So, some Hollywood kids will now ride the bus to Town Creek, who will now ride the bus to Carver, who will now ride the bus to Lex Park. Then, most of the little kids who currently attend Lex Park will now ride the bus way down to Ridge... That's what happens if there isn't an available school site in the Leonardtown/Hollywood area.

There isn't time to hash this all out. We must act now. At the end of January, there will be an Elementary School site approved, and the ground will be broken shortly thereafter. So we have about a 60 day window to get this done. This is why the County is trying to find property that is already owned by the State to put an elementary school.

All our current Commissioners are doing is dealing with the hand they've been dealt. Previous Commissioner Boards invested all of our financial resources into upgrading our existing school buildings. The up-side is that most of our school buildings are relatively new. (Calvert built a bunch of new schools, but their children are either the "haves" and the "have-nots" with kids either in really new schools, or really old ones.) The down side of all of this upgrading over the past 6 or 8 years is that we now have an urgent need for new school buildings.

The BRAC list will come out in May (16th I believe.) We must have another elementary school site moving towards the construction phase by Feb 1. Or, the lack-of will have a major impact on what already looks to be an unfriendly BRAC process towards Pax River.

I won't argue point-by-point with you, because I don't necessarily agree or disagree with what you have said. I just wish the naysayers, and the NIMBY's had answers and solutions to offer as alternatives to everything they know they don't want.

 

[UrbanPancake]

Why not use the old Hollywood site? Don't they already own that? That would be a prefect site right in the middle of the county. They shouldn't use a site that is so supposed to be preserved for the sake of saving money. Plus the county shouldn't force people out of their home to preserve the land, and then turn around and develope it. If the land was acquired to protect the watershed, then it should be preserved to protect the watershed, otherwise give it back to the family.

 

[Aimhigh2000]

I agree

Oh, I agree with you Oz on most points and I certainly understand. The frustration comes from things like First Colony. I mean, the homes scheduled to go in, they could have plopped a school in the middle of it, it could have been built and running (perhaps). I don't think the BRAC will have an impact at all on us. There are rumors each time it comes up, but there are too many projects here for anything to happen, especially with the new Marine One being built. I just think it is a shame and a sham how this county operates sometimes. I am actually for schools being built in communities and where they are needed. I didn't like the fact that the county made these people move in order to protect the land, then they say they want to build on it. And if all else fails, do like DC and use eminent domain LOL! (kidding on that one) It just seems like they approve all of these pop-up developments, but never made any provisions or requirements for schools and such. I mean, that is how it appears to me, and if I am wrong I apologize, its just the way it looks to me.

 

[UrbanPancake]

If they do build a school on the Indian Bridge Rd site it will attract a developers attention. Just look at the new Hollywood School. It's surrounded by a new subdivision. It wouldn't suprise me if they built this school, and then a year or two later a subdivision was built by a friend of the commisioners. So much for protecting the watershed.

 

[Oz]

Why not use the old Hollywood site? Don't they already own that? That would be a prefect site right in the middle of the county. They shouldn't use a site that is so supposed to be preserved for the sake of saving money. Plus the county shouldn't force people out of their home to preserve the land, and then turn around and develope it. If the land was acquired to protect the watershed, then it should be preserved to protect the watershed, otherwise give it back to the family.

C'mon Cupcake... That property is 5.89 acres and landlocked. Do your homework! The reason they want larger sites is so there is land to expand or build another building in 20 years, versus being right back where we are today.

Force people out of their home? These silly statements do nothing to support your agenda...

Cupcake, the government doesn't tell people where to live. People decide that. It's a free market. Just like customers dictate where businesses locate. If housing has developed in the Hollywood school district, its because people want to live where the best, and newest schools are located. Duh!

AimHigh2000 - The current Zoning Laws require properties to meet the APF/Adequate Public Facilities requirements. In all fairness, that document is just about 2 years old, and our previous ordinance wasn't as restrictive, so what you say has some truth to it. There are internal issues that have slowed the development of First Colony. And, while just about everything in our zoning ordinance can be mitigated (as you saw with the county pool,) EXCEPT school sites. It is actually against the law to mitigate school sites. I'm not sure that is the best policy, but it is what we have to work with. Our public should get behind changing this policy, and it would probably lead the way to some of what you would have wanted in the developments you mentioned.

As far as BRAC goes, there is cause for concern. Many of the government officials that we entertained over the last 18 months have resigned. Now, we're left with new appointees. Even though the military doesn't play politics, Ohio is "owed" something for electing the President. Remember, before the election, they were the poster-state for jobs lost to outsourcing. Now, with the resignations of experienced Under-Secretary's, and political appointments to replace them, we can only hope that PAX won't see a reduction in operations thanks to BRAC. There really is cause for concern, and I hope NAVAIR and NAWC-AD isn't thinking that Stenny Hoyer can be their savior.

 

[Aimhigh2000]

Cheers!

Our public should get behind changing this policy, and it would probably lead the way to some of what you would have wanted in the developments you mentioned.

I couldn't agree with you more! I remember as a kid, my dad was Navy and in Florida and New Orleans, I remember the elementary schools being in the middle of communities, with the jr and sr high schools being on the fringes, inbetween two communities.

 

[UrbanPancake]

C'mon Cupcake... That property is 5.89 acres and landlocked. Do your homework! The reason they want larger sites is so there is land to expand or build another building in 20 years, versus being right back where we are today.

Force people out of their home? These silly statements do nothing to support your agenda...

Cupcake, the government doesn't tell people where to live. People decide that. It's a free market. Just like customers dictate where businesses locate. If housing has developed in the Hollywood school district, its because people want to live where the best, and newest schools are located. Duh!

AimHigh2000 - The current Zoning Laws require properties to meet the APF/Adequate Public Facilities requirements. In all fairness, that document is just about 2 years old, and our previous ordinance wasn't as restrictive, so what you say has some truth to it. There are internal issues that have slowed the development of First Colony. And, while just about everything in our zoning ordinance can be mitigated (as you saw with the county pool,) EXCEPT school sites. It is actually against the law to mitigate school sites. I'm not sure that is the best policy, but it is what we have to work with. Our public should get behind changing this policy, and it would probably lead the way to some of what you would have wanted in the developments you mentioned.

With that in mind, why do they have to build schools in the middle of a farm? Why not build schools in an existing community? Why bus children from a far away community when they could walk to school like our grandparents did? Not only would this save money on fuel and buses, but this create well needed excercise for our plump children. Why do we need huge regional schools? Why not have community based schools? Not only would the schools be smaller, and within walking distance for most students, but it would encourage more parents to get involved in their local school district (it would be more conv. for busy parents).

 

[Aimhigh2000]

Funding

I think it comes down to money. Community schools would be nice, and they are frequent in suburbs of major metropolitan areas, like New Orleans and Jacksonville. I don't think we would have the sustained revenue to accomplish that.....yet. I do think new major developments like First Colony should be required to pitch in, and like Oz said, get the policy changed in order to allow more flexibility.

 

[UrbanPancake]

Yes money is a factor. But with new communities being built all around the area, they could implement this strategy. I think it would make our communities stonger and better place to live. Mainly for our busy parents and children.

 

[Aimhigh2000]

Infrastructure

You have to take into account infrastructure, transportation and taxes. Most builders get a tax break, so revenue isn't generated until houses are built. I think that is how it works.

 

[sloopy789]

use existing space

maybe its time to take the playgrounds at all these schools and build two story classroom buildings. there are large areas available at a bunch of the elementary and middle schools. Wont be popular but use the space you have more efficiently.

 

[Aimhigh2000]

Tall Schools

Here in DC (I know you can't really compare it to St. Marys), they have elementary schools that are three or four floors. I am not sure if it would be cost effective (or allowable) to build up on existing structures. They do do it all the time here in the city, I just don't know if it would work.

 

[UrbanPancake]

I say why not. Again I will bring up the plump children. They really need to be walking up a flight of stairs everyday so they can shed some pounds.

 

[STL_RAMS]

They need to force builders to donate land for schools. I moved here from Orange County (in Orlando, FL). In order for developers to build their new hugh communities, they were required to donate land to the county for a new school to be built on. I am not sure if they were required to fund the building of the school, but at lease the land was a start.

 

[alex]

Requiring developers to donate land for schools is great - providing the county doesn't give it back to the developer later. When Country Lakes was under development there was land set aside for schools there. Then the county decided they didn't need it and it went back to the developer. Maybe if the county couldn't give it back for development it would be a good idea. They could always make a park with sports fields out of it if they didn't need it for schools.

 

[Oz]

Requiring developers to donate land for schools is great - providing the county doesn't give it back to the developer later. When Country Lakes was under development there was land set aside for schools there. Then the county decided they didn't need it and it went back to the developer. Maybe if the county couldn't give it back for development it would be a good idea. They could always make a park with sports fields out of it if they didn't need it for schools.

Again, this practice is forbidden by our zoning ordinance. I don't disagree, but until you change the laws, you can't b~tch about this not happening.

They can mitigate anything (ie. swimming pools) but not schools. There are good reasons as to why its there - to prevent situations where a developer donates a school site, and then, those seats aren't available for his own development so he now can't build/develop because someone else filled up the hypothetical school built on his donated site - but this portion of the zoning law probably needs to be "fixed."