The Queen Anne's County Planning Commission voted Dec. 11 to approve major site plan SP25-08-0158, allowing Hank Beebe Holdings LLC to consolidate three lots and add 47,067 square feet to an existing boat storage and maintenance facility at Bay Bridge Marina in Stevensville.

Steve Johnson, senior planner with the county Department of Planning and Zoning, told commissioners the 28.544-acre site meets Chapter 18 landscape and parking requirements, includes no proposed development inside the 100-year floodplain, and requires an administrative subdivision to combine the three existing lots prior to final signatures. He said the site is partly within the airport protection district and that the airport manager supports conditional approval.

Commissioners pressed the applicant and the county about pending federal and state reviews. "We filed a petition with the FAA to review the project to assist in determining if the proposed new structure will reduce the effectiveness of the automated weather observation system," Johnson said. Applicant representatives and former FAA employee David Perry said tech ops previously issued a "no hazard" determination for the proposed structures but that a county petition remains under review.

Commissioners expressed concern about the risk the AWOS might have to be relocated. "If the petition says it has to be moved, then that would be Hinkley's call whether to move forward," an applicant representative said. The staff recommendation and the approved motion include condition 8 making the developer responsible for "all costs necessary to restore full functionality to the automated weather observation system in the event it is impacted," including relocation if required by the FAA's review.

The approval was also conditioned on addressing any remaining Maryland Department of Transportation State Highway Administration comments prior to final site plan signature, recording the administrative subdivision, satisfying airport-manager comments, meeting APFO conditions cited by the APFO administrator, and adhering to Maryland Aviation Administration and FAA regulations.

The commission moved and seconded the motion and the board voted in favor; the chair announced the motion carried. No individual roll-call votes were recorded in the transcript.

Next steps include resolution of outstanding State Highway and FAA petition reviews and recording of the subdivision documents before final site-plan signatures.