Park Place Apartments Appeal

Originally Published: June 24, 2024

Developer Appeals Planning Commission Ruling

The Board of Appeals, on June 27th, will review an appeal filed by Park Place Units, LLC. The Park Place Apartments project was denied by the Planning Commission on March 18th, after several issues were raised by board members and neighboring properties. Planning Commission members were concerned about parking, additional traffic, and bus stop locations. COPT Defense, owners of the SAIC building, objected to the development because of the proximity of one apartment building. The location, COPT Defense argued, could potentially put national security at risk given the secret nature of work conducted by tenants of their building.

Attorney Chris Longmore, on behalf of Park Place and developer John Parlett, alleges in the appeal that the Planning Commission overstepped its authority in denying the concept plan. Commission members relied on their personal opinions and experiences, “failed to make findings required by” the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance (CZO), didn’t accept the approved and already constructed traffic mitigation or the traffic impact study, “took actions…contrary to the stated goals…of the Comprehensive Plan (CP),” and irrelevantly “considered development of an adjacent parcel.”

Originally, the site was planned to host 30 townhouses and 8 single family homes, then was revised in 2010 for a 138K SF office building and 28K SF church. These uses generate different traffic patterns than an apartment complex, however the Planning Commission was assured additional traffic capacity existed. Additionally, the tenants for each parcel of Park Place (including Holiday Inn and the restaurants) signed a shared parking agreement with the landlord. As such, Park Place Apartments is entitled to use 70 spaces at Holiday Inn which will satisfy the CZO’s parking requirement for the development. Planning Commission members, however, wondered what the quality of life for a resident would be if they had to walk a considerable distance from parking to their apartment. The proposed school bus stop, at Abell House Lane and Shady Mile Drive would leave school age children walking long distances as well.

The public has an opportunity to voice their concerns or objections at the Board of Appeals meeting on Thursday, June 27th at 6:30PM at 41770 Baldridge St, Leonardtown, MD. Comments can also be emailed to sherrie.young@stmaryscountymd.gov by 12PM on June 26th.

Appeal Information: https://go.boarddocs.com/md/stmarysco/Board.nsf/goto?open...