FEATURES
Tim Wheeler | February 14, 2012
Gov. Martin O'Malley's retooled proposal to limit development on septic tanks gets a hearing in Annapolis today, along with his other major green initiatives - increasing the "flush fee" to fix wastewater treatment plants and providing ratepayer subsidies to boost offshore wind energy projects. Lawmakers will hear from the governor on all three measures, but also from environmental and smart-growth activists, local officials, farmers and developers. Among those making a case for curbing low-density development on septics will be the Queen Anne's Conservation Association, which commissioned a study of growth trends in the Eastern Shore county just across the Bay Bridge from Annapolis. You can view a YouTube summary of the study by Washington College here: Opposing the bill will be rural and some suburban officials, development and farming groups. Interestingly, the Maryland Association of Counties, traditionally skeptical and even resistant of any state Smart Growth proposal, has decided to support the bill with amendments. That may signify some support for the curbs among the more urban of the suburban counties, or it could be a ruse to appear supportive while proposing changes that effectively gut the legislation. Carroll County 's commissioners, among the most vehemently opposed to any state role in curbing septics or limiting sprawl, take a hard line. Richard Rothschild, vice president of the commissioners,...
NEWS
By Nicole Fuller, The Baltimore Sun | February 1, 2012
A state panel said Wednesday that members of the Carroll County Board of Commissioners violated the state's Open Meetings Act by holding a fee-based forum on a controversial smart-growth policy attended by a majority of the board. "The County Board violated the Act by charging admission to a meeting held for the consideration of public business," the Open Meetings Compliance Board said in a written opinion. "We commend the County's prompt posting of materials from the event on its website.
FEATURES
Tim Wheeler | January 19, 2012
Stop the presses: A new report finds that Maryland's 15-year-old Smart Growth law isn't working very well. That's hardly news. The state's own data have shown for years that more land continues to be developed for homes in the countryside instead of in urbanized areas, where growth is meant to go under the 1997 law. But the report issued Wednesday by the National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education at the University...
NEWS
Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun | December 19, 2011
Gov. Martin O'Malley's PlanMaryland, which has become the subject of bitter opposition in parts of rural Maryland, is now official state policy for managing growth. At a ceremony that included two of his Democratic predecessors, O'Malley formally accepted the plan, which had gone through two draft versions before being adopted. The plan has been decried by conservative county officials and Republican legislators as a usurpation of local power over land use, but O'Malley defended it Monday as a framework for making wise decisions about where the state should invest in capital projects.
NEWS
By Michael Dresser, The Baltimore Sun | December 12, 2011
To its supporters, Gov. Martin O'Malley's Plan Maryland is a long-overdue effort to bring Maryland's disparate programs to promote Smart Growth under one consolidated plan with an agreed-upon set of rules. To its detractors, the plan is a naked power grab aimed at concentrating power in Annapolis at the expense of local governments. Those two views clashed Monday in a Senate committee room, where state Planning Secretary Richard Hall defended the administration's effort to draft an executive order implementing those rules against Senate Minority Leader E. J. Pipkin's demand that any such plan be submitted to the General Assembly for approval.
NEWS
November 27, 2011
Jacques Kelly 's article about the rebirth of Union Mill did a superb job of recognizing the innovative program that has driven Seawall Development's reuse of the historic property ("New tricks: Redone factory now homes," Nov. 23). This model project is a testament to the vision and generous spirits of Donald and Thibault Mannekin and their partner Evan Morville. It probably would not have been possible, however, without the assistance of a small, but highly effective public program.