Urbanization, common to the western shore, is encroaching on Kent Island as witnessed by the proposed Public Storage Building in Chester, adjacent to the Cross Island Trail near Rt. 50.
The building is a massive structure (156,000 square foot); four stories high, 130 feet wide by 300 feet long (imagine a football field) with a roof peak at 56 feet. The monolithic structure will loom over the Cross Island Trail, draw attention from Route 50, and will leave the impression to our community and travelers that our county is not committed to preserving its vulnerable protected Critical Areas or maintaining its recreational and rural character.
The project includes removing 1.4 acres of mature wooded pine forest in the environmentally sensitive Critical Area with no mitigation required. The facility will add 1,100 storage units of additional capacity to the local market (3X the number at U-Haul Storage in Grasonville, 3 miles away), something Kent Island doesn’t need given there are already 11 storage facilities within several miles on Rt 50, and residential growth is capped due to sewage capacity.
The County Commissioners are being asked by the applicant to change the Critical Area regulations that have protected this area for the last 30+ years to enable this scale of intense development. The Commissioners need to hear from the public prior to the Jan. 24 public hearing. You can email them at qaccommissionersandadministrator@qac.org to share your thoughts. Here are some concerns and questions to get you started.
Is this building’s enormous size appropriate for the protected Chesapeake Bay Critical Area?
Expanding the Critical Area “Intense Development” locations along Rt. 50 corridor is contributing to our community’s sense of commercial sprawl.
This project is inconsistent with one of the Comprehensive Plan’s stated guiding principles to “sustain Queen Anne’s County as a good steward by preserving and protecting the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries“. This is exactly what the existing Critical Area regulations do.
Should the County encourage redevelopment by weakening long established Critical Area environmental protections?
Can Kent Island absorb the 1,100 incremental storage units without driving out existing business providers? Is changing this regulation, enabling this development, fair to established businesses?
Considering the bridge and freeway expansion plans, shouldn’t we be demonstrating a heightened awareness of protecting our remaining Critical Areas from commercial encroachment?
Queen Annes County’s new marketing slogan “Where shore living begins” captures what makes Kent Island special and unique . . . it’s shorelines. Let’s not unwind the long established Critical Area protections just to enable more urban sprawl.
We need to ask our Commissioners, as our community leaders, to act as strong stewards in protecting our remaining environmentally sensitive Critical Areas from excessive commercial encroachment. Ask them to deny this applicant’s request to change the Critical Area land use designation from “Limited Development” to “Intense development” status.
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Keep it Clean. Please avoid obscene, vulgar, lewd, racist or sexually-oriented language.
PLEASE TURN OFF YOUR CAPS LOCK.
Don't Threaten. Threats of harming another person will not be tolerated.
Be Truthful. Don't knowingly lie about anyone or anything.
Be Nice. No racism, sexism or any sort of -ism that is degrading to another person.
Be Proactive. Use the 'Report' link on each comment to let us know of abusive posts.
Share with Us. We'd love to hear eyewitness accounts, the history behind an article.