BA 25-023C – Friendship Baptist Church Conditional Use Hearing – April 7, 2026
STREAMING COPY IN PREPARATION — RECORDING AVAILABLE FROM THE ORIGINAL SOURCE
BA 25-023C – Friendship Baptist Church Conditional Use Hearing – April 7, 2026
This is a summary of the Howard County Hearing Examiner meeting held on April 7, 2026, at 5:30 PM, presided by Hearing Examiner Joyce Nichols. The single agenda item was Case BA 25-023C, a conditional use petition by Friendship Baptist Church to increase student occupancy at its existing child daycare center and nursery school from the currently approved 39 morning and 39 afternoon students to a total of 110 students, without altering existing structures.
Petitioner's Testimony
- Thomas B. McKee (representative of Friendship Baptist Church): Stated that installing acceleration/deceleration lanes on Maryland 32, as initially recommended by the State Highway Administration (SHA), is financially infeasible for the church or the leaseholder (Little Oak Nursery School). He noted the church has approximately 440 members (averaging 360–370 attendees on Sundays) and reported no history of ingress/egress incidents.
- Joseph Caligaro (traffic engineer, The Traffic Group): Presented exhibits including trip generation estimates (83 trips during the AM peak hour, 82 during the PM peak hour, with 90% of traffic from the south) and crash data showing only 2 intersection-related crashes over 10 years (both on Fridays around 3:30 PM, potentially school-related). He explained that SHA had previously removed acceleration/deceleration lanes and replaced them with a center turn lane, which he considered a safer configuration. He concluded that the proposed use would provide safe ingress/egress without requiring additional lanes.
- Dan Sweeney (civil engineer, GLW Engineering): Confirmed agreement with the technical staff report from the Department of Planning and Zoning, noted no external improvements are proposed, and stated the existing 170-space parking lot and playground meet requirements.
Key Outcomes
- All seven exhibits (traffic analysis, crash data, etc.) were admitted into evidence.
- The evidentiary hearing was concluded; a decision and order will be rendered at a later date.
Meeting Transcript
Is being recorded and summarized. All right. Good evening, everybody. It is the 7th of April. We are here for case number 25-023C, a request by Friendship Baptist Church for a conditional use for an increased capacity for a child daycare center and nursery school. The capacity increase is from the current 39 morning and 39 afternoon students to a total of 11 students. Your case, Mr. O. Thank you, Madam Xander. If I may make some preliminary remarks, just excuse me, I have a little frog in my throat. This case actually is a as you pointed out, is the second consideration of this conditional use or what was originally approved as a special exception. The church initially had a daycare. That daycare ceased at some point in the early or late 1900s, 1990s, excuse me. And because of that, uh the Department of Planning and Zoning has informed us that this is a new conditional use application since the last one expired. Clearly, the issue in this case is the traffic is occasioned by the increase in additional students. So we do have Mr. Joseph Caligaro, who is a professional traffic engineer, and he's ready to speak to what I think are the salient issues in the case. We also have civil engineer Dan Sweeney, who is here. However, there is no construction being proposed on the site. Everything's already constructed. There's nothing to construct. So he's here for your questions, but probably doesn't have the most relevant testimony. We also have a rep a representative of the petitioner, Mr. Tom McKee. He's here. Unfortunately, his son is in a ceremony today, tonight having received the silver star. And so that ceremony begins at 6 o'clock. So Mr. McKee is here, but he is asking to be excused at some point to attend the thing. Can you put him first? I could, but I I'm not sure what uh questions you would have for him necessarily. I don't know either, but whatever questions you have of him, let's get him on, let's get him off. A silver star is very important. Yes, it is. Okay. Mr. McKee, why don't you take right there? Yes, I did for right, sir. I need to swear you in first. Thank you so much. I solemnly swear or affirm under the penalties of perjury that the responses given and statements made should be the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. Please state your name and business address for the record. Thomas B. McKee, 1202 Shady Creek Road, Merrizzville, Maryland. Mr. McKee, you are here this evening as a representative of Friendship Baptist Church. Is that correct? Correct. And Friendship Baptist Church has applied for an increase in the number of daycare students from what was originally approved in 1996, I believe, for 39 in the morning and 39 in the afternoon.
openpublica.com