Local Housing & School Capacity
Originally Published: January 25, 2023
On Tuesday, January 24th, the St. Mary’s County Board of Education and the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County held a joint meeting. One subject reviewed was approved or proposed housing projects and school capacity.
Courtney Jenkins from the County’s Land Use and Growth Management Department (LUGM), provided a list of current projects that have received at least concept site plan approval as well as current projects still under review. The list included:
Concept Approval:
Smith Field Park - 76 apartments
Broyhill Subdivision - 22 Lots
Stallman Section 6 - 12 Lots
Norris Woods Subdivision - 44 Lots
First Colony POD 5 - 233 apartments
Woods at Myrtle Point Section 2 - 70 Condos
Total of 457 Units
Under Review:
Old Rolling Rd - 568 Apartments
Villas at Lexwood - 40 Townhomes
Stewart’s Grant - 1154 units (mix of apartments, houses)
Total of 1762 Units
The above list *does not* include any housing projects within Leonardtown’s town limits, as those are approved by the Town’s Planning and Zoning board.
School capacity is set by the state, but our local zoning ordinance allows for an excess capacity. Elementary schools are allowed to operate at 107% capacity, Middle at 109% capacity, and High at 116% capacity. Calculated capacity is shown broken out in a photo below.
Current available capacity, as of January 2022, is 828 for North Elementary schools, 810 for South Elementary schools, 627 for Middle, and 283 for High. That means total capacity available is 2,548. Proposed developments that have been approved or under review, will add a total of 2,219 living units to the county.
If using the state capacity numbers, available capacity would be as follows: 308 for North Elementary, 389 for South Elementary, 173 for Middle, and High schools are over capacity by 307 students. This means, according to the state, total available capacity across our school system is only 870 students (and none at the high school level).
The latest version of our zoning ordinance was adopted in 2010. Portions of the ordinance have been updated since then, but a complete update of the ordinance is long overdue. Previous versions have included regulations that were designed to promote growth, and I believe the school capacity regulation is an example of this.
While at one time St. Mary’s did need to promote growth to bring resources and jobs to the area, we have arrived at a point in time where our growth plan needs to seriously be reconsidered. I am skeptical that the County can continue to grow at this rate without the proper infrastructure to support the growth. Remember, infrastructure is more than just sewer lines, roads, and electricity–it includes schools, healthcare, employment, and so much more.
