by Huntingtown Citizens Association

National Night Out (NNO) is a community building night for neighbor camaraderie & police-community partnerships. Bring your family and meet us at the picnic tables in the center of Huntingtown on Tuesday August 3rd, 2021 from 6-8pm at 4300 Hunting Creek Rd. (The corner of Rt 521 & Rt 524 in the parking lot of our favorite deli Bowen’s.)
Our Volunteer Fire Department has confirmed they’ll have an engine and ambulance here to check out. We’ve invited the CCSO & MSP too. HCA will have free give-away items like T-shirts, hats, cups, beach balls & frisbees as well as light snacks & beverages for you. Come meet some of your Huntingtown neighbors. (We’ll follow any CDC mask/social distancing rules in effect for this all outdoor event.

The deadline to register to vote before the election is Tuesday October 13, that’s tomorrow! To register go to voterservices.elections.maryland.gov

You can also register in person at our local Calvert elections board offices in the Community Resources Building (lower level) at 30 Duke Street, Prince Frederick, MD 20678. This is across from the Post Office. If you are already registered, use the same website to check that your info is accurate; name spelled correctly, current address entered, your party affiliation correct.

If you miss this 10/13 deadline, there is another chance to register. Did you know you can also register during early voting from Monday 10/26 to Monday 11/2, 7am to 8pm at the Community Resources Bldg, 30 Duke Street, Prince Frederick. Your final chance to register on Election day, Tuesday Nov 3rd from 7am to 8pm at the polling centers noted below.

voterservices.elections.maryland.gov will also show you which local district you are in when you type in your registered address, District 1, 2 or 3. It has a map and directions to your early voting or election day voting centers. Note that Board of Education and Board of County Commissioners have 1 member living and representing each of the 3 Calvert districts and 2 at-large members that can live in any district. This is so the entire county from end to end is represented. Any registered voter in Calvert can and should vote for a candidate in any district. This site will also show you your sample ballot with the candidate choices in each race.

Calvert County is updating it’s 1997 Transportation Plan.  What do you think about it now and 20 years from now?  Citizens should provide comments by Tuesday, March 10, 2020 at 4:30 p.m. to commiss@calvertcountymd.gov  

Read the Feb 2020 Transportation Plan draft here. Too overwhelming? Below are our cliff notes. Just jump ahead in the link above to the noted page of the file.

Pg 7: “Projections through 2040 indicate a rate of growth in Calvert County averaging 0.5% annually.”… “More than 90% of county residents commute to work alone in their personal vehicle.”… “More than 65% of commuting trips destined for locations
outside of Calvert County.”… “Given the development pattern and the distance from major employment centers, there is no evidence…these modal shares are likely to change.”

Pg 11: MD 4 in Huntingtown  has some of the highest traffic counts behind MD4  in Prince Fredrick at Dares Beach Rd and MD 231.

Pg 20: Will Calvert grow at historical (12.5%), aggressive (50%) or hyper growth rates until the year 2040?  (We have about 102,000 population now; that would be 146,000 with aggressive growth and 177,000 with hyper growth in the year 2040. )

Pg 23: Which  intersection is the second worst?  MD 4 at Cox Rd in Huntingtown currently gets a “D” and an “F” grade and STILL WILL even after additional improvements at the historical growth rate. What happens if growth rate is more?

Now go to page 137 to see how bad it really it, without averaging in the side roads to MD 4. Bonus points: check out pg 142 if you like raw data.

Pg 27 & 76: “Realign junction of MD 521 Hunting Creek Rd/ MD 524  Old Town Rd and MD 2/4 in Huntingtown…” Hunting Creek Rd going all the way out to intersect MD 4? Whose properties will be affected by this?

Pg 45: Been in a vehicle crash?  See if your crash dot shows up.

Pg 94: Using “Smart Signals” transportation technologies in Calvert is challenging, as Calvert does not have “fiber optic lines which enhance the ability to implement additional video cameras, gather real-time data, operate dynamic message signs and implement real-time traffic signal control.” But the additional improvements for Goal #4 on pg 29 relay heavily on this.

The Board of County Commissioners (BoCC) will give it’s decision on the Transportation Plan on Tuesday, March 24, 2020 at their regularly scheduled 10am meeting. Can’t attend? You can watch live stream here or watch video at a later time. Same link will show you BoCC agendas with links to Powerpoints and documents so you can check things out beforehand. That’s what HCA does.

As usual, please share with your friends, neighbors and HOA.  Follow the Huntingtown Citizens Association (HCA) Facebook pg or e-mail us at huntingtowncitizens@gmail.com

Your chance to speak is here!                                        We can’t hear you Bob Cratchit!

Tell the Planning Commission about your commute, the traffic & your road concerns at a Public Hearing on the Transportation Plan this Wednesday evening 12/18/2019 at 7pm at the Harriet Brown Community Center, 901 Dares Beach Rd in Prince Frederick.

Here is the Sept 2019 Draft of the Transporation Plan. Don’t worry, we’ve made our “cliff notes” below so can return to your seasonal jolliness faster. Well, actually DO worry…the future looks scary.

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

-How is your commute? See what grade it gets…a “D” perhaps? (Pg 10 has current/2017 grades and their explanations.)

-Will that “D” improve in the future?  Sorry. Look at all the red “F” grades at MD4 & Cox Rd! You’ll look like Ole Jacob Marley by the time you get home. (Page 21)

Can anything be more frightening than the Ghost of Traffic Yet to Come?

-Hyper growth scenario has Calvert with 176,636 residents by the year 2040…nearly DOUBLE the 2017 number of 93,228 residents. Should our BoCC make planning decisions to permit this?

Sounds like a Marley & Scrooge investment strategy gone wrong; can we handle hyper or even aggressive growth of population and households in the next 20 years? Talk about overcrowding. (Pg 18)

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What on earth is the Calvert County Comprehensive Plan and how will it affect ME?

Learn more this Thursday, Oct. 17, 2019 at 7 PM at the Dunkirk Firehouse Hall.  Mr. Greg Bowen, a former Director of Planning & Zoning for Calvert County, will discuss how the new Comprehensive Plan will affect you and all residents county-wide.  All Calvert County Residents are invited to this meeting, hosted by the Dunkirk Area Concerned Citizens Association (DAACA).  For more information, please visit http://www.daccamd.com/

The address for the Dunkirk Firehouse Hall is 3170 W Ward Rd, Dunkirk, MD 20754. This is on your left, just a bit past the Safeway shopping center on W. Ward Rd.

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We return to our regular school year schedules in a few days. Below left is the future of the MD Route 4 at Cox Rd intersection. This intersection has some of the highest average daily traffic counts in all of Calvert County.  Do you drive through this intersection?  

Above is pg 27 of the Transportation Plan update Power point presentation from 08/14. Black arrows at the light show current lanes. Red arrows show proposed lanes. This shows 11 lanes across MD4.

The County is currently updating the Transportation Plan. Did you know that the Cox Rd intersection currently gets a failing “F” grade in the afternoon? With historical growth in population, it will get an “F” grade in both the AM & PM rush, even with some improvements. And it will still get a failing “F” in the PM, with even greater and more costly road improvements. (Review the Transportation Plan power point for more info.)

You have until 6 September 2019 to submit comments on the Transportation Plan to pz@calvertcountymd.gov with “Transportation Plan Comments” in the subject line. (Note that neither the Powerpoint nor the county website seem to welcome your comments, as they don’t tell you where to send them.) There is also a Facebook video recording of the presentation.

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The final vote was 3-2 in favor of expanding Huntingtown Town Center across MD Route 4 at Cox Rd on August 6th, 2019.  Commissioner Kelly McConkey himself cast the deciding vote, with Tim Hutchins and Mike Hart also voting in favor. So it’s done.

McConkey cast a vote in spite of ethical concerns with conflict of interest.  He owns two properties (outlined in red) in the expanded area (green) which will now be zoned in the Town Center instead of rural community district or rural commercial zoning.

The State of MD Department of Planning average daily traffic counts showing THE HIGHEST VOLUME in Huntingtown at 41,891 trips per day; a count even higher than that at the largest Prince Frederick intersection.

There were thousands of pages of public comments submitted on the Comprehensive Plan . We challenge you to locate one comment from a Huntingtown citizen which explicitly supports this expansion.  Makes you wonder, who were the Commissioners they listening to?

Why is there a 495 Beltway? Traffic moves faster AROUND instead of through. This vote will put ALL travelers on MD4 through our town instead of around it.  Even Gov Hogan’s brand new “A Better Maryland” plan use Smart Growth and Sustainable Growth ideas.

What can you do? Talk to your neighbors and friends in the county.  This change will affect them too.  START PAYING ATTENTION! Make note and take photos of the current conditions; traffic, buildings, your quiet street, your home value, etc. They could be changing soon.  Continue reading →

Join us this Tues 8/06/2019 from 6pm to 8pm for National Night Out(NNO). Meet us at the picnic tables in the heart of Huntingtown at 4300 Hunting Creek Rd. This is a community building event which promotes neighbor camaraderie and police-community partnerships.

We have invited the Huntingtown Volunteer Fire Department (HVFD) & the Calvert County Sheriff’s Office, the Maryland State Police (MSP), the Maryland Natural Resources Police and the National Capital Police.

(The address is 4300 Hunting Creek Rd or the corner of Old Town Rd & Huntingtown Rd.) We will have light refreshments & snacks. We invite you to stop by, or eat your picnic dinner with us. If you want, bring something your grew or made and have too much us in the hope of trading it with your neighbors. Stop by especially if you don’t have a neighborhood or yours is not hosting a NNO event itself.

(Our event is on the Huntingtown Citizens Association Facebook page.)