The building that will house the new Safeway will also include 6,000 square feet of additional retail space for other tenants. The 9.6-acre lot will include two other building pads of slightly more than one acre, according to Bob Messer of Safeway's design department in Lanham.

As part of the Safeway operation, gasoline pumps will be located on the northern side of the property with a separate driveway and parking area. 

Safeway purchased what was formerly a portion of the Lowery Farm in late 2000 and began the design process for this project in early 2001. Lowery's Produce has since moved to the southern State Route 18.

For its part, the planning commission gave a favorable response to three initial requests from Safeway that will allow the project to continue through the public review process:

* Approved the concept plan as presented;

* Made a favorable recommendation to amend the property into the master water and sewer plan;

* And allowed a parking reduction standard that is similar to current performance standards at the existing Safeway. 

The Safeway store will be located at the eastern side of the parcel with separate access off of State Route 18. The two building pads will be located where the current access to the center farther west on State Route 18. Messer indicated that the building pads might be sold to the owners of Kent Towne Center for later development.

According the staff report, the project will involve improvements to surrounding streets as well as extensive landscaping on the property, which will be initially financed by Safeway.

Street improvements would include widening and reconfiguration of turning radii for South Piney Creek Road on the northern side of U.S. 50/301 to accommodate tractor-trailer rigs.

But the most complicated improvements are on State Route 18 and State Route 552 (Old Dominion Road). The freeway interchange and that portion of Route 552 would be reconfigured as well as the Route 18-552 intersection that would include relocation of the stoplight.

Route 18 eastward from the intersection would be widened to include a center left-turn lane, which would essentially create a four-lane street from the intersection to the end of the Safeway property. On the north side of the street, this would also include moving power line poles and construction of a sidewalk. Further consultation with the State Highway Administration and the county staff will be necessary before this plan can be implemented, according to development review chief J. Steven Cohoon.

Another key off-site improvement is constructing a 12-inch water main from the current Clayborne Woods subdivision along Routes 552 and 18 to the edge of the Safeway property. The sewer line along Route 18 will also be extended to the site.

Extension of water and sewer lines along that portion of Route 18 has been a key issues for the planning commission as several other new developments have been approved in recent months.

Architect John E. Shady of Freeman Morgan Architects said that the architecture offers three "view" sides because of the store's location between Route 18 and U.S. 50/301. The store's front, which will face west toward the current shopping center, will be broken up with varying rooflines and a central cupola. The northern and southern sides of the building will offer similar "human-scale" facades.

"What we are doing is 'capping' the center," Shady said of the Safeway's location in relation to the current shopping center.

The eastern side the store with loading docks will face the backs of other buildings that are part of an existing business center adjacent to the Safeway property.

Under the current Queen Anne's County ordinance, the most restrictive in the region, more than 530 parking spaces would be required for the new Safeway. Surveys at the current shopping center, which offers four parking spaces per 1,000 square feet of floor area, shows that at peak times 76 to 44 percent of the spaces were used.

In addition, as part of the regional shopping center (more than 100,000 square feet) the new store would be required to offer 254 parking spaces. The Safeway plan calls for an additional 275 spaces, which would also function as part of the current center.

Landscaping would create sound and visual buffers for U.S. 301/50 and Route 18 as well as on parking islands, according to the staff report.

The gas station hours are proposed from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., according to Safeway's Messer, who also said that customers could use their Safeway discount cards at the facility.

Messer said that a new, larger store is necessary fit corporate guidelines to include a full-service deli and other services. He said that the store could be open in a year.

A nearby resident said that portion of Route 18 that will be improved should take into consideration that there are school bus stops along that stretch of road that require children to cross the street.

The resident pointed out that motorists coming out of the current shopping center driveways are "blind" to traffic conditions on Route 18 and that the 40 mph speed limit is too fast. 
 

©The Star Democrat 2002