A crack-seal job buys a Charles County road two to five years. Residents of the Longmeade neighborhood off Rose Hill Road want something that looks better than black sealant lines, and at the Sept. 15 Board of Commissioners meeting they got a hearing, though not a repaving.
A commissioner whose district includes the neighborhood told colleagues that residents had made contact and that the commissioner had gone out to see the streets in person. The commissioner said county staff were following policy, which calls for crack sealing to preserve pavement, and apologized to them for raising it. But the commissioner asked the board to start a policy discussion about treating residential neighborhoods differently from main roads, with appearance and home values counted. “Our residents pay enough in taxes they deserve to be able to have this discussion,” the commissioner said, adding that for many families the house is their biggest asset.
Staff explained why the county seals first. Sealing keeps rain and moisture out of the road’s sub-base, a county road official said; once water gets in, patches multiply and the road can become unsafe. A sealed road in good shape lasts another two to five years, after which the county can re-evaluate and choose a modified seal, a slurry seal or an overlay. To mill, patch and overlay Longmeade’s streets instead would cost about $225,275, the official said.
The larger issue was money. The county has $5.2 million this year for its overlay program, and a public works official said all of it is already committed, so Longmeade would have to wait for another budget cycle. By the Chronicle’s arithmetic, the Longmeade price is about 4% of that amount; one official put it closer to 5%. The county now paves roughly 10 to 14 miles of road a year, the official said, and shifting from crack sealing to overlays would cut that to about eight miles.
The county’s director of fiscal administration added that the overlay program is paid for through the capital improvement plan, which is limited by a debt affordability model that the county “pretty much” maxes out each year. Extra money for roads would most likely mean taking it from another project. One commissioner pointed to the Board of Education’s request approved earlier in the same meeting, a transfer of about $4 million after the budget was adopted, as evidence the county can find money when it chooses. Another commissioner called the question a policy decision for the board in the next budget cycle, and imagined staff coming back with trade-offs such as 15 crack-seal projects against three full replacements.
Commissioners asked whether the complaint was purely about appearance, and the discussion treated it that way. A senior county official said public works engineers match treatments to a road’s condition. “We’re not artists,” the official said, noting that what looks good to one person may not to another. The official said the discussion would not change what crews do “tomorrow or the next day,” but that residents’ preferences would be one factor when staff weigh options.
Another commissioner raised a caution from past experience: years ago a neighborhood was upset by patchwork and slurry that, residents did not realize, had been planned ahead of major sewer work that would tear the road up anyway. That commissioner asked that any new policy include planning and utilities staff so crews do not lay new pavement over a road scheduled to be dug up. Staff agreed, noting that aging underground infrastructure will force more of that coordination.
No vote was taken and no money was set aside. The Longmeade discussion landed in a month when roads were already on commissioners’ minds; the Chronicle has reported on how roads stall as rapid transit advances in Charles, and the same meeting produced a Meals on Wheels funding discussion. A commissioner said the conversation “has started today,” though a quick fix could not be promised, and said transportation funding would be a priority as budget season approaches. Residents who attended heard staff say they would return with cost and trade-off numbers when the next budget is built.
