Environmentalists are urging the state and federal governments to deny the permit and save the wetlands. They say the county should first study the impact on fish and that it should consider widening a road to the north instead of building a new highway. But Charles County officials say the request for more study is really an attempt to stop growth, which they want in this northern section of the county, nearest Washington.
Charles County's population of 145,000 is expected to grow by nearly 50 percent by 2030, one of the fastest rates in the state. Melvin "Chuck" Beall Jr., the local director of planning, said the commissioners since 1990 have been trying to direct 75 percent of this growth into a development district in the northern county so that the southern part can be kept rural.
"If this road is not built, other roads would be built to accommodate the circulation of the citizens. And multiple roads would have more of an environmental impact than one road with a higher capacity," Beall said.
Eleven subdivisions with 2,513 homes are proposed or under construction with the assumption they could connect to the new road. Another 27 subdivisions with 2,971 units are planned or built nearby. Further, about 2,400 homes are expected at the western end of the connector in the community in Bryans Road. The county says thousands more are likely to be built nearby.
This part of the county is vital for economic growth, local officials say. It's just north of the area's biggest employer, the U.S. Navy Surface Warfare Center, where 4,000 people work, many making missile fuel and explosives. To help create more defense-related jobs, the county wants to build a 250-acre high-tech business park between the Navy base and the proposed highway.
Gary Setzer, administrator of wetlands programs at the Maryland Department of the Environment, said before the new road can be built, his agency must certify that runoff pollution will not violate water quality standards in Mattawoman Creek.
Since the 1970s, the state has been trying to protect large chunks of northern Charles County. The Mattawoman Creek watershed is about 70 percent forested, which helps to protect the stream from runoff pollution. From 1975 to 1997, the state purchased 2,509 acres lining the stream to prevent development and protect wildlife.
