In 1992, as a result of a group effort of local government developers, environmentalists, farmers and state officials, the Maryland Legislature adopted, and the Governor signed into law, the Economic Growth, Resource Protection and Planning Act of 1992. The new "Planning Act" establishes several policies aimed at creating better planning and greater coordination at both the local and state levels.
Maryland's Future
The Act establishes seven visions of the State which all local planning commissions must implement through the comprehensive plan:
- Development must be concentrated in suitable areas;
- Sensitive areas must be protected;
- In rural areas, growth must be directed to existing population centers and resources are protected;
- Stewardship of the Chesapeake Bay and land is a universal ethic;
- Conservation of resources, including a reduction in resource consumption, must be practiced;
- To ensure the achievement of paragraphs (1) through (5) of this subsection, economic growth is
- encouraged and regulatory mechanisms are streamlined; and
- Funding mechanisms are addressed to achieve these visions.
The Act went on to require that, on or before July 1, 1997 and subsequently at intervals of no more than 6 years, local jurisdictions must update their comprehensive plans. It also requires that zoning ordinances and other land use regulations be consistent with the comprehensive plan. As part of the Act, the State Finance and Procurement Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland was amended, essentially requiring that, unless extraordinary circumstances exist, state funded capital projects (i.e., roads, schools, sewer expansions) must be consistent with the visions and the local comprehensive plan.
What Does This Mean?
What does all this mean for property owners, developers, real estate agents and the financial community? First and foremost, it means everyone with a property interest better start to pay more attention to the comprehensive plan. Under state law, the local comprehensive plan will establish where growth will occur, where roads will be built and where sewer lines will be installed.
In Maryland, a local government will generally update its comprehensive plan, then revise its zoning maps and land use regulations. Typically, the plan influences the zoning process, but the zoning process is where the real decisions are made. This process, known as comprehensive rezoning, attracts a great deal of attention. During the comprehensive rezoning process, a local government can change the zoning of property without regard to the onerous standards of piecemeal rezoning. An evidentiary showing that there was either a mistake in the original zoning or the character of the neighborhood has changed so significantly since the last comprehensive rezoning that a new zoning category is justified, is not necessary when a comprehensive rezoning occurs.
A great deal of lobbying by all those with property interests takes place during the comprehensive rezoning. At the end of the process, the elected county or municipal officials decide on the zoning of properties. The final decisions can be a windfall for some property owners, while potentially reducing land values for others.
The Planning Act contemplates, and perhaps even mandates, a shifting of the rezoning decisions to the comprehensive plan by mandating that zoning maps, ordinances and other land use regulations be consistent with and implement the comprehensive plan. The logic to this approach is that policies, such as where a growth area should be located or where to site an intense commercial center, will be made during the planning process.
Get Involved
If you are interested in influencing the ultimate zoning of your property, the time to get involved is during the comprehensive planning process. If you wait until the zoning hearings to express to the elected officials why property should be zoned one way or another, it will likely be too late and the fate of the property may be sealed until the next comprehensive plan update.