LEONARDTOWN — St. Mary’s County residents who want a gym slot for indoor soccer, a trail they can reach from their front door, or a kayak launch in the northern end of the county now have a document that says the county should deliver them.
The St. Mary’s County Planning Commission voted 6-0 on Oct. 26 to recommend the draft Land Preservation, Parks and Recreation Plan to the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County. The plan, prepared with consultant BerryDunn, sets the county’s parks priorities for the next five years and is required for the county to keep receiving state Program Open Space money for land purchases and park projects.
Its main findings are that St. Mary’s should reinvest in the parks it already has, extend trails and water access, add athletic field capacity and seriously plan for indoor, year-round recreation space, which today depends heavily on school gyms.
Hearing from people who don’t use parks
Every Maryland county updates its plan on the same five-year cycle, under state Department of Natural Resources guidelines. St. Mary’s last updated its plan in 2022, and the state’s fiscal 2023 Program Open Space program set aside $25,000 for a consultant to write the update.
What sets this version apart, Recreation and Parks Director Ray Bivens told the commission, is the first statistically valid survey in the plan’s history, mailed to randomly selected homes so the county heard from people who don’t already use its parks. Bivens said one respondent listed Pennsylvania Dutch as the language spoken at home, a reminder that Amish and Mennonite families have different needs when it comes to reaching a park. He said St. Mary’s drew more public engagement than neighboring counties.
The county opened public input in May with an online survey, an interactive map, a budget exercise and pop-up sessions in Lexington Park, Charlotte Hall, Leonardtown and Mechanicsville. Art Thatcher of BerryDunn said the mail survey came back at 111% of its 400-response target, giving results a margin of error of plus or minus 4.5 percentage points.
Those respondents mostly like what they have:
- 89% said they visit county parks and facilities, and about three in four do so at least monthly.
- 87% rated park conditions excellent or good.
- 80% agreed parks and recreation improve their quality of life.
- Only 51% agreed that county programs meet residents’ needs, the weakest score in that set of questions.
The north county gap
BerryDunn mapped drive times across the county’s 359 square miles. About 90% of residents live within a 15-minute drive of a park, and the same share are that close to a trail. That drops to 68% for historic and cultural sites and 66% for public water access, with the northern part of the county showing the thinnest coverage for both water and trails.
The system itself is in decent shape. St. Mary’s runs 23 parks covering just over 2,700 acres, and Thatcher said 93% of facilities were rated excellent, good or aging but functional, with 7% near or past the end of their service life. Operating spending is just over $14 million, or about $124 per resident, with programs and fees bringing in about $104 per resident. The department has 44 full-time employees and 468 part-time workers.
When residents were handed a mock budget to spend, they put the most money into maintaining and improving existing facilities, followed by trails and pathways, preserving natural areas, new outdoor facilities, and programs and events. The plan follows that order: reinvest first, then expand trails and water access, including extending the Three Notch Trail and building safer walking and biking links between neighborhoods, schools and parks.
Indoor space is the pressure point the department already feels. Staff told the commission there are long waiting lists for programs such as indoor soccer and basketball, and Thatcher said growing demand on school gyms raises the question of whether St. Mary’s needs its own multipurpose indoor facilities, including space for fitness and climbing. Residents also asked for more nature-focused offerings and for programs that reach older adults, people with disabilities, and families held back by cost or transportation.
Next stops
Deputy Director Jessica Hale said the draft goes to the commissioners in November and is still being edited. One planning commissioner suggested adding FEMA hazard mitigation open space funding as a possible money source. The final draft goes to the state at the end of December, and DNR can take several months to review it before the plan returns to the commissioners for adoption.
Residents can still review the project on the county’s LPPRP engagement site. The Planning Commission has been busy with growth cases this fall, including its recent approval of 60 townhomes near Great Mills.
