Park Plan Due Next Month
County Planner Jeff Jackman describes a zoning plan to help revitalize Lexington Park.
The 20-year plan to carry Lexington Park into a more prosperous future is scheduled for public release by March. County planner Jeff Jackman told Lexington Park business and community representatives that their input remains essential.
Robin Finnacom, in charge of the Community Development Corporation’s Lexington Park revitalization efforts echoed Mr. Jackman. “I hope the Lexington Park Business and Community Association will read and scrutinize this,” she said, holding the not-yet-released, inch-thick document in her hand. “This is the foundation we will be working from, from this point for the next 10 years, the next 20 years. It better be a great guide book. If it’s not, it does us no good.”
A Future Lexington Park
As a starting point, she suggested the oak leaf that appears on the preliminary draft be replaced with the Lexington Park logo before a final draft is presented to the public.
Whatever the zoning decisions, making the community more attractive to investors, businesses, customers and residents is imperative to a successful revitalization. The ongoing branding campaign with the successful Lexington Park logo serves as a symbol of that effort.
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The “centerpiece” of the document remains the same as in the concept plan that emerged from a summer of community meetings with a bevy of county-hired consultants, Mr. Jackman said. The concept plan concentrated on the tip of the triangle formed by Route 235, Great Mills Road and Chancellor’s Run Road.
That portion of the plan remains “pretty well intact,” Mr. Jackman said. “That is the heart of the plan, that’s really what we’re going from.”
Numerous, small road connections that linked neighborhoods to one another were highly praised elements of the proposal. The connections would ease some traffic, open additional development avenues and directly improve public safety.
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The plan describes Millison Plaza as the “retail core” of Lexington Park and extends to the north up a completed FDR Boulevard parallel to Route 235 and southwesterly down Great Mills Road to St. Mary’s Square.
“Participate, stay involved, spread the word,” Mr. Jackman told the association at their January meeting.
Public comment and postings are open at the Lexington Park Development District Facebook page. Higher resolution photos of the drawings above, designs presented during the 2011 development of a Lexington Park master plan and earlier plans are available via the St. Mary’s County website.
Public hearings will accompany the deliberations and alterations county officials make to the plan before a final document is adopted into law.
