Residents and Anne Arundel County Council members are raising concerns about negative effects on the environment and traffic if the county moves forward with purchasing two adjoining properties in Millersville and Gambrills for a new public school transportation facility.

If approved, a resolution introduced in late October at the request of County Executive Steuart Pittman would allow the county to purchase the two properties totaling nearly 8 acres for $3.5 million.

Located at the corner of Millersville Road and Route 3, the land is next to Anne Arundel County Public Schools’ existing transportation administrative offices in Millersville and to the west of the South Shore Trail.

The proposed facility, to be combined with land the school system already owns, will include amenities to support maintenance and operations of the county school system’s bus fleet, said Bill Heiser, the school system’s chief operating officer, including incorporating electric vehicle charging stations, a transportation training center and parking for 77 buses and 26 alternative vehicles.

The school system has been searching for a new location to house its transportation operations for several years, Heiser said. Its current transportation facility was built in 1921 and no longer meets the demand for the county’s growing student population. Operations are currently split between a bus lot in Pasadena and its Millersville offices.

If the county purchases the properties, money from the Advance Land Acquisition Capital Project would be used for the sale.

The Anne Arundel County Board of Education’s fiscal 2026 capital budget request, approved by the board in September, included $9.2 million for the new facility.

“By investing in this property, we’re ensuring that our transportation infrastructure is capable of supporting the needs of our students, staff, for years to come,” Heiser said.

Councilmember Lisa Rodvien, an Annapolis Democrat, said while she understands the needs of the school system, adding a large amount of impervious surface in the area — part of the Jabez Branch watershed, a tributary to Severn Run — was concerning.

Impervious surfaces like parking lots prevent rainwater from soaking into the ground and slowly trickling into streams. Instead, it flows rapidly into storm drains and waterways and can pick up pollutants on the nonporous surfaces.

“I’m just curious — when in the conversation, when in this negotiation did it become apparent that this was part of, in the Jabez?” she said at Monday’s meeting.

“And did anyone ever raise the fact that this was a priority in the General Development Plan?” Rodvien said, referring to a county document that guides land use.

The Jabez Branch is the only stream in the Maryland Coastal Plain that supports a native, self-sustaining brook trout population. Part of the waterway had a population of brook trout before construction of the nearby Interstate 97 overpass.

Efforts to rehabilitate the Jabez Branch watershed have been underway for more than a decade. In late October, state and local officials marked the completion of a $9 million restoration project there, which addressed erosion and sediment pollution that increased water quality issues in the Severn River.

AACPS did not specifically look at what watershed the land was in, said Kyle Ruef, the school system’s director of facilities.

With the recent restoration in mind, Rodvien said she was seeking assurance that the school system would be “willing to go above and beyond” to protect the investment and larger stream ecosystem.

In addition, an assessment of the land revealed contaminated soil and abandoned aboveground storage tanks. However, if the council approves the sale, the seller will be required to clean up the issues as a condition of the settlement, said Ethan Hunt, the county’s director of government affairs.

Under state law, the school district would be required to update stormwater management facilities at the site to address any issues with runoff, Hunt added.

Don and Deborah Weller are worried about more traffic at the intersection of Route 3 and Millersville Road — “one of the most dangerous in the Route 3 corridor,” Don Weller said.

“They really didn’t do their homework to understand the limitations of the site,” he said. “It’s not nearly as good a site for them as they’re thinking, and the impacts on the environment and on traffic are a lot worse than they’re imagining.”

A historic structure, the Wigley Greer house, is also located on the land slated for the transportation facility, though current plans for the facility include keeping the house, Hunt said.

Councilmember Nathan Volke, a Pasadena Republican, raised concerns about the purchase price of the properties and the significant expansion of parking the school system requested.

The plans for the facility are not final, Hunt said.

“I get that you may have to change the plan, but the school system is looking at this as most developers do and saying, ‘How can I max out my concept for everything that I think I need?'” Volke said. “That’s what you all have done here, right?”

“Correct,” Ruef said.

In a 5-2 vote, the council agreed to postpone a decision on the resolution until Nov. 18. The county would need to close on the sale by Dec. 31.

Have a news tip? Contact Natalie Jones at najones@baltsun.com, 443-679-7818 and x.com/nataliemjones.