Could High Density Save Lexington Park?
Here is perhaps the most relevant point: Regardless of how the economy plays out in Southern Maryland, the population is expected to keep on growing.
And this related point is pivotal: There is more retail and office space surrounding the Pax River Naval Air Station than needed now or into a projected future; indicators suggest vacancy rates will continue to grow.
Thus there is a single obvious point, say many of those invested in Lexington Park: If the only growth industry ahead is housing, it is time to seriously incentivize high-density development in Lexington Park.
Instead of incentives, current county zoning regulations work in the negative, complain builders and developers. County zoning discourages building outside development districts such as Lexington Park, but does little to encourage development where its wanted. The difficulty in obtaining permits to build outside the development districts verses inside is negligible, says one Lexington Park builder. For example, he said, transferable development rights, created to preserve agricultural land, are still needed to build where the county wants development.
Even with proper zoning, after acquiring rights and permissions, and adhering to development restrictions, there are not enough margins in high density development to invest he said.
Last year, he said, he tried to site a multi-story apartment building on properly zoned land just off Great Mills Road, but he couldn’t get numbers to support the project. “Now, apartments can’t break even.”
Another long-time developer of commercial and residential projects concurred that multi-storied apartment buildings are the best route to reverse Lexington Park’s downward spiraling property values. He sees luxury apartments on the horizon of a swath of rolling and forested land making up the underbelly of Lexington Park spreading in a roughly three-mile radius from NAS:Pax River Gate 2 between Great Mills and Willows roads.
The underbelly rests in large, undivided tracts, some segments already carrying mixed-use zoning status such as defines the Wildewood subdivision in California, MD.
A trident of “blue line streams,” as those streams large enough to be mapped and protected are called, branch into the underbelly creating a verdant landscape and the need for small footprint development.
That is exactly what Lexington Park needs, concur property and business owners, developers, planners and others concerned with the dropping property values in the area.
NAS:Pax River draws young, highly-educated workers and also retains military retirees. Segments of both the young and the retired populations are opting for lifestyles close to their jobs and close to shopping and other desired amenities more often available in multi-family communities than single family home neighborhoods.
There is also a growing population of very wealthy retirees and workers, noted one of the developers. If not now, very soon, he said, there would be a market for a top-drawer, luxury apartment community that was largely self-contained with restaurants and specialty shops. The siting of such a project within that underbelly could completely overhaul the fortunes of Lexington Park he said, if the partnerships needed to create such a transformation were embraced by both public agencies and private developers.
While few business or development interests in Lexington Park hold out much hope for any imminent transformational upheaval, they all agree that actively incentivizing construction in Lexington Park is the first step. And the encouragement of a great deal higher density than currently permitted should be the first incentive.
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