The state has regulated shoreline development for 24 years, but it's up to the counties to enforce that law - and often, critics say, they don't. Illegal buildings or additions sometimes go up before a county even knows this has happened.
The legislature approved an O'Malley administration bill this year to strengthen the law and its enforcement, after much compromise. It's too soon to say if it will fix the problems.
Maryland's 1997 "Smart Growth" law was designed to contain sprawl, but in many ways has failed, even its champions agree. Towns and counties comply with the mandate to draw "growth areas" where they want to channel development - but those areas may spread across farms and forestland.
O'Malley has pledged to reform state growth laws next year. He has not said what he'll propose.
"I think we've nibbled at the edges of how we grow," says Del. Maggie McIntosh, a Baltimore Democrat and chairwoman of the House Environmental Matters Committee. What we need, she says, is "real 'smart growth.' "
Maryland's Smart Growth law uses state money as a carrot to encourage more compact development. Counties, cities and towns identify where they plan to grow, and those areas get priority for state money for roads, sewer and other infrastructure. Local officials can still permit development elsewhere, but they won't get state money to serve those communities.
Environmentalists say, though, the law has loopholes. The state still pays to build schools in outlying areas. Counties and towns aren't required to draw small growth areas that preserve open space. And the carrot isn't big enough - builders and advocates agree that more money must be spent to make the designated areas attractive to home buyers.
County officials are expected to fight any proposal to give the state more say over development, arguing that such decisions should be made by those closest to the voters. And builders point out that little is being done to curb polluted runoff from existing homes.
"You can't say, 'If we don't build one more house, thank God, we'll be able to clean up the bay,' " says Kathleen Maloney of the Maryland State Builders Association. "It's a multi-faceted problem."
Some local officials aren't waiting for state action. Queen Anne's County now requires nitrogen-removing septic systems for new homes built near the water. And all septic systems must be pumped out every five years, to ensure they're working as well as they can.
