Crisfield's historic Crockett House starts process to gain commercial zoning

Posted 4/19/22

CRISFIELD — A request to rezone one of Crisfield’s most grand residences from residential to commercial went back to the applicants for more information.

The historic Crockett House at …

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Crisfield's historic Crockett House starts process to gain commercial zoning

Posted

CRISFIELD — A request to rezone one of Crisfield’s most grand residences from residential to commercial went back to the applicants for more information.

The historic Crockett House at 205 W. Main Street dates to the 1890s and is an expression of the wealth of the oyster packing industry at that time.

According to research by architectural historian Paul Baker Touart, legend has it that the owner’s son Abednego Crockett ordered plans for the house based on one he saw while on a business trip in Denver, Colorado. It replaced an earlier dwelling that burned.

Described as “the most elaborate Queen Anne style house still standing in Crisfield” it served the Crockett family for four generations but faded in stature.

In 1988 Mr. Crockett’s youngest daughter Pauline willed the house to her nephew John Forbush and it was his late wife Patsy Sterling Forbush who led the restoration, winning a Maryland Preservation Project Award.

It was sold out of the family in 2010 and for a time owner Bibiana Cohey operated a bed and breakfast. The storefront on the corner next door, which is zoned commercial, was later separated from the old house.

Now enter Athena Valais Argiris, a pizza shop owner in King of Prussia, Pa., who is also a Greek American-style cook for 38 years. She never heard of Crisfield but after seeing a cookbook by Frances Kitching she traveled to Smith Island and while in town saw the Crockett House — and knew she wanted to buy it.

The owner since January 2020, Ms. Argiris and her partner John Moss have some ideas for its reuse but they are not possible because it is zoned Medium Density Residential R-2. She is seeking to change that to Neighborhood Commercial C-1 but the application stalled before the Planning and Zoning Commission after city attorney Mac Baldwin expressed that it lacked the basic information to make a legal decision.

The unadvertised hearing held April 4 turned into an informational meeting as Mr. Baldwin explained that rezoning is allowed for only two reasons: a mistake or a substantial change in the neighborhood. Since the current zoning dates to 2007 it would be difficult to prove a mistake so the change in the neighborhood is the applicant’s path to follow.

“We’re the change that it needs,” Ms. Argiris said, as the plan is to open a small take-out restaurant and a music retail shop while living upstairs in what will be their primary residence.

Called “mom and pop type entrepreneurs,” Somerset County Economic Development Commission Executive Director Danny Thompson said the creation of the Arts & Entertainment District overlay zone which includes this property shows thought has already been put into the possibilities of new development.

Crisfield’s Main Street has changed in the last 50 years and not for the better, Mr. Thompson said. But he said consider what is found in other small towns, where visitors find main streets no longer residential but filled with mixed uses from art galleries and doughnut shops to professional offices.

“I don’t represent them, but I know what they are trying to do,” he said. While he had not seen the rezoning application, this is the kind of change that could bring new life to Main Street.

Mr. Baldwin and Brian Waller, director of operations for the city, pointed out rezoning was the first step because after that there would be code requirements to follow for a commercial establishment, such as off-street parking for employees and customers. On that point Mr. Moss said the plan is to move the fence along Broadway inward by 10 feet to make room for cars.

John J. Dize, a planning commission member, also pointed out there is plenty of off-street parking including along Second Street, which was confirmed by board Chair Rick Taylor, a city police captain. Also attending the meeting was board member Vernel Cottman.

Mr. Dize said he saw no reason not to consider the application as presented. “There’s an awful lot of empty holes on Main Street,” he said, and Capt. Taylor said the board is “not here to hinder you” as they want to see growth in Crisfield.

Mr. Baldwin said the rezoning process “is a quasi-trial” where proponents and opponents are heard, and neighbors are invited to comment as well so long as whatever decision the board makes is “unimpeachable.”

To show a change in the neighborhood the applicants must define it. In their favor is the commercially-zoned storefront next door, and the former bakery nearby on Broadway which is zoned industrial.

However, working against them is the dearth of commercial activity in the uptown district in general. In addition, spot zoning is illegal. That would entail approving a change to facilitate a specific use.

It was not expressed what the Comprehensive Plan says about this section of the city, however, except for some minor changes that plan has not been substantially updated in more than 10 years.

No date was set for the next meeting. Absent were commission members Shawna Kearsley and Cynthia Freeman.

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