Calvert County Board of County Commissioners Regular Meeting – August 4, 2026

The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) held its regular meeting on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, beginning at 10:00 a.m. in the Chesapeake Hearing Room at 150 Main Street, Prince Frederick, Maryland. Internet outages initially prevented the meeting from streaming on YouTube, Comcast 99, and Channel 1070; the meeting was recorded internally for later posting, and livestreaming was restored during the session. The board approved its amended agenda and the closed-session summary for the July 28, 2026 closed meeting, presented three citations and a proclamation, reappointed two Planning Commission members, and approved all six consent-calendar items. Major actions included approval of a Calvert County Public Schools budget reallocation, the Prince Frederick Main Street Maryland application, an approval-in-concept for Upper Mill Creek restoration, adoption of Master Plan of Town Centers chapters, establishment of the Neeld Estate Citizens' Association Shore Erosion Control District, and continuation of the Student Safety and Well-Being Advisory Committee. Public comment focused heavily on the upcoming data center moratorium vote. The board announced that Amazon Data Services, Inc. (AWS) formally withdrew its conceptual site development plan application on the evening of August 3, 2026, and that public hearings on a proposed six-month data center moratorium and on consolidated public improvement bonds are scheduled for August 18, 2026.

Consent Calendar

• Department of Economic Development: Community Legacy Grant application under state revitalization programs.
• Office of the County Administrator / Calvert Marine Museum: Glascock Family Parking Field License Agreement.
• Department of Public Works: Intergovernmental Agreement for chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) refrigerant recovery services.
• Department of Public Works: Letter of support for the Calvert County Watermen's Association Docking Contest.
• Department of Community Resources: Child Advocacy Center Memorandum of Agreement with the Department of Social Services.
• Department of Economic Development: Opportunity Zone eligibility map changes.

All six items were approved in a single unanimous motion.

Discussion Items

Citations & Proclamation

• Huntingtown High School softball team: honored as 2026 Maryland Class 2A state champions after a 24–2 season, securing the school's second consecutive state title, fourth consecutive South Regional championship, and seventh softball state championship in the program's 22-year history.
• North Beach Volunteer Fire Department: recognized for its 100th anniversary (founded February 1926; first chartered volunteer fire department in Calvert County on August 4, 1926). The department introduced the county's first aerial truck and first firefighting boat, helped establish the county's six other volunteer fire departments, and has responded to an estimated 100,000 emergencies. Chief Stephen Stanton accepted the citation.
• Landen Vercoe: Huntingtown High School junior honored as 2026 MPSSAA state wrestling champion in the 144-pound weight class, with a 52–1 season record (24 pins, 17 technical falls) and a 131–19 varsity career record. Athletic Director Vashaun Gross noted Vercoe wrestled with a tumor in his arm and also works with special-needs students in the unified class.
• National Farmers Market Week (August 2–8, 2026; 27th year): proclaimed in a presentation with Agricultural Development Specialist Caroline Trosback and market vendors/hosts. The county's three markets operate at Calvert Health (Tuesday afternoons), Dunkirk District Park (Thursday afternoons), and North Beach (Saturday mornings).

Appointments

• Victor W. Freeland reappointed to the Planning Commission as chair; Gregory Kernan reappointed as member. Staff initially stated a three-year term, then corrected the record to five-year terms with a three-term limit. Following the appointments, no Planning Commission vacancies remain. Both reappointments approved unanimously.

New Business

• Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund: Designated the sitting board president as authorized official and the county administrator as alternate authorized signatory for Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund (CCIF) awards for FY 2026–27, and authorized submission of the designation letter to the Governor's Office for Children. Approved unanimously.
• Calvert County Public Schools FY 2026 year-end budget amendment: Approved reallocation of $1,000,000 from student services and $100,000 from instructional salaries and wages to student transportation and operational plant to cover higher-than-anticipated energy and facilities costs. The Board of Education approved the transfer on June 11, 2026; the amendment does not increase the overall operating budget and requests no additional county funding.
• Main Street Maryland Connected Communities application: Approved submission of Prince Frederick's application (due August 7, 2026) for the entry-level Connected Community designation for the historic Main Street corridor (Duke Street to Church Street, approximately 40 businesses), plus execution of the required letter of support. Existing county staff and previously budgeted resources will administer the program initially; no additional funds are required to apply.
• Upper Mill Creek restoration (Friends of Hunting Creek and American Chestnut Land Trust): The groups presented a plan to restore a 1,750-foot degraded section of Upper Mill Creek on county property using a low-tech, all-wood approach (engineered log structures) modeled on the 2019 Bacon Ridge Branch project in Anne Arundel County. Ron Clauder described the watershed as more than 19,000 acres with about 9% impervious cover (2023), near a 10% threshold for stream-health decline; the stream channel is eroded 5.5 to 7.5 feet deep with base-flow water depths of only 3 to 6 inches, attributed largely to Calvert Village Shopping Center (built 1971) and Walmart (1991) adding about 25 acres of impervious surfaces. They stated no county funds are requested; the American Chestnut Land Trust will seek a Chesapeake Bay Trust grant for design and permitting. The board approved the project in concept, contingent on outside funding and all necessary approvals, permits, property access, maintenance responsibilities, and applicable agreements.

Old Business

• Master Plan of Town Centers, Chapters 1–3: Following the July 21, 2026 public hearing and the 10-day deferral required by Local Government Article § 9-105, the board closed the record. One written comment was received, from a former resident (Mr. O'Connor): “please no more houses, stores. We've had enough traffic, light pollution, crime and congestion. This is why my family has moved.” The board split the original combined motion. Chapters 1 (Town Centers) and 2 (Prince Frederick Town Center Master Plan) were adopted with one commissioner voting no; that commissioner stated he was “for Dunkirk” but opposed “any expansion in Calvert County” because the Prince Frederick plan expands the town center. Chapter 3 (Dunkirk Town Center Master Plan) was adopted unanimously; commissioners noted Dunkirk's boundary is expanded to include Dunkirk District Park and its parking lot, which cannot be developed and is included solely to bring the district in line for priority-funding eligibility, with no growth potential.
• Neeld Estate Citizens' Association (NECA) Shore Erosion Control District: The board closed the public record and enacted the ordinance establishing the SECD to fund a third headland breakwater. Total estimated project cost is $791,713 ($768,653 in construction costs plus a $23,060 DNR administrative services fee), to be funded through a 20-year, 0% interest DNR loan to the county, with repayments supported by an annual levy of $335.47 per assessed residence on 118 dwellings within the district. The county will serve as borrower and fiscal administrator. Nine written comments had been received by July 29, 2026, with one additional comment received by the July 31 deadline.
• Student Safety and Well-Being Advisory Committee draft final report: The committee (established by Resolution 9-24 on May 29, 2024; 20 public meetings from October 2024 through February 2026; roughly 1,000 community survey responses) presented 14 consensus recommendations across five topics: mental health and well-being; student behavior and school climate; staff preparedness and capacity; communication and community engagement; and facilities, technology, and security. Key findings cited included 63% of surveyed students reporting bullying as an issue, inconsistent implementation of the student code of conduct across schools, staffing gaps in school-based mental health, and parental and community accountability concerns raised by Chair Pastor Dana Jones and Vice Chair Leslie Irvin. The board approved the final report, authorized its publication through county communication channels, directed staff to coordinate with the chair and vice chair to present the report to the Calvert County Board of Education, and—amending the original motion—kept the committee active rather than disbanding it.

Presentation: Tidal Water Quality Monitoring Annual Update

• Dr. Laura Harris (Chesapeake Biological Laboratory), with Cindy Ross and Julia Smeltzer, presented the annual tidal water quality monitoring update (program operating since 1987 in the Solomon's Harbor/Mill Creek system, expanded in 2009; sampling from May through September every other week; measuring dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll a, Secchi depth, temperature, and salinity).
• Long-term bottom dissolved oxygen in Solomon's Harbor is trending downward, but the last three dry or average-rainfall years showed higher oxygen levels. Chlorophyll concentrations remain above 15 µg/L on average (approaching 20 µg/L), with somewhat lower averages in recent years. Water quality in the Mill Creek complex worsens further into the back creeks because of limited flushing.
• Island Creek and St. Leonard Creek show low dissolved-oxygen concerns; Plum Point Creek was highlighted for high algal concentrations and is slated for dredging.
• A public-health advisory on Vibrio was issued: the presenter advised waiting three days after rainfall of more than one inch before entering tidal waters. Maryland probable Vibrio cases were high last year; the bacteria can cause serious wounds, amputations, and death in the county. Fecal coliform levels were not bad last year, consistent with a dry year.
• Water temperatures have warmed roughly 2–2.5°C over the record, reducing oxygen-holding capacity and contributing to species shifts (for example, blue catfish).
• New recommendations: conserve, preserve, and restore tidal wetlands; target stream best-management practices in watersheds with higher agricultural land use; and focus advanced septic-system upgrade grants on the Mill, Plum, and Hungerford Creek watersheds. Presenters noted septic-system records remain largely on paper and recommended digitizing parcel-level septic data (type and installation year) to guide investments.
• A new Patuxent shallow-water water-quality model and a public web dashboard for exploring creek monitoring data are now available to the county.

Public Comments & Testimony

• Carl L. Wine (individual, Camp Kanoi Road): Said the data center process was driven by the data center industry and Constellation, stated mega data centers pose real risks and harms, and urged a yes vote on the August 18 moratorium.
• Nancy Elwine (individual, Camp Kanoi Road): Thanked the board for moving forward on a moratorium and for AWS's withdrawal, but argued a moratorium is still needed; claimed 800 acres of forest and farmland were rezoned to heavy industrial use and “quietly slipped into the comprehensive plan without due notice”; urged a unanimous moratorium vote, noting three commissioners will leave office in December.
• Kyle Russell (representing the U.S. Vintage Model Yacht Group): Alleged Calvert Marine Museum leadership is preparing to eliminate the Solomon's Island Model Boat Club, coordinating statements before any investigation, sharing a volunteer's medical information in internal emails, blocking an ADA access ramp, and “waiting out” elderly volunteers. He called on the board to act.
• Sylvia Batong (Citizens for Calvert): Supported the moratorium as an important first step but urged strengthening it—defining what the county intends to study; evaluating impacts on the Chesapeake Bay watershed, forests, wetlands, stormwater, setbacks from schools and homes, noise, water and wastewater, electrical infrastructure and ratepayer costs, emergency response, greenhouse gas emissions, and community benefit agreements; learning from Northern Virginia; preventing other approval pathways from advancing data centers during the review; and allowing extension after public notice and hearing.
• Bob Estus (Friends of Hunting Creek): Thanked the board for attention to Upper Mill Creek, stressed the need for robust specifications in stormwater management including a new rainfall table, and offered site tours.
• Johnny Gott (speaking as employees of the GOT Company): Defended the 2004 memorandum of understanding (MOU), stating it memorialized his donation of nearly five acres (valued at the time at $600,000–$800,000, now $1.5–2 million) for the Lusby village green and his construction of Lusby Parkway, and that it retained 26 residential density units later applied to Lusby Villas. He said the MOU “has absolutely nothing to do with the actual development of the Lusby villas,” that eliminating it would only reduce Lusby Villas from 276 to 250 units and return the village green to him, and that a prior public commenter intentionally misrepresented the MOU.
• Jeff Dixon (individual): Said spot zoning is illegal in Maryland when arbitrary, done solely for a private owner's benefit, and contrary to the comprehensive plan; called changing zoning for Amazon “immoral”; asked that both data center locations be reset to the original comprehensive plan; and urged a moratorium vote.
• Jeanette Waisaki (individual): Praised the student safety committee and water quality presentations, asked why the county cannot take one to two years to study data center impacts as the student committee did, and urged a strengthened and longer moratorium plus a public advisory committee.
• Stu Johnson (online; individual, St. Leonard): Praised the presentations, said Chesapeake Bay water quality trends move slowly and require working jointly with other Bay communities, and supported the moratorium.

Commissioner Reports

• Commissioner Grasso: Reported Calvert County received a 2026 AI award in the project category for its responsible approach to artificial intelligence; attended the Cove Point Park playground ribbon cutting and the North Beach VFD centennial gala; thanked staff for quickly clearing a pipe issue and downed tree at Breezy Point.
• Commissioner Hart: Highlighted the new Cove Point Park playground, designed for children of all abilities at a cost of $1.3 million; praised the North Beach VFD centennial; declared he will support a moratorium “if it's two years, three years, five years, don't care”; and asked that the board place on a future agenda a process to remove data centers as an allowed use anywhere in Calvert County.
• Commissioner Ireland: Attended the Cove Point Park ribbon cutting and the North Beach VFD centennial; promoted National Night Out.
• Commissioner Cox: Asked for prayers for the Miller and Rawlings families; promoted National Night Out and the Prince Frederick Volunteer Fire Department carnival.
• Commissioner Hance: Praised Parks and Recreation staff and Bob Branham for their wide-ranging portfolio; said the student safety committee's work is “nowhere near done”; confirmed the meeting recording began at the invocation.

Key Outcomes

• Amended open agenda approved unanimously.
• Closed-session summary for the July 28, 2026 closed meeting approved unanimously.
• Planning Commission reappointments (Freeland as chair, Kernan as member) approved unanimously.
• Six-item consent calendar approved unanimously.
• Children's Cabinet Interagency Fund authorized-official designation approved unanimously.
• Calvert County Public Schools FY 2026 year-end budget amendment approved unanimously ($1,000,000 from student services and $100,000 from instructional salaries/wages reallocated to student transportation and operational plant).
• Main Street Maryland Connected Communities application for Prince Frederick approved unanimously.
• Upper Mill Creek restoration approved in concept, contingent on outside funding and all approvals.
• Master Plan of Town Centers Chapters 1 and 2 adopted with one dissenting vote; Chapter 3 (Dunkirk) adopted unanimously.
• NECA Shore Erosion Control District ordinance enacted and public record closed.
• Student Safety and Well-Being Advisory Committee final report approved; the committee was continued rather than disbanded, and the report will be published and presented to the Calvert County Board of Education.
• Upcoming: public hearing on the proposed six-month data center moratorium and the consolidated public improvement bond resolution on Tuesday, August 18, 2026, at 10:30 a.m. (no vote was taken at this meeting). Amazon Data Services, Inc. formally withdrew its conceptual site development plan application on the evening of Monday, August 3, 2026.
• The board adjourned following commissioner reports.

Note: The raw transcript contains apparent transcription errors in several proper names (for example, “Commissioner Barrasso” for a commissioner and “Mr. Turner” for an unidentified participant). Where speaker attribution is unreliable, this summary uses generic descriptions.