Maryland’s lawmakers won’t reconvene in Annapolis for another five months, but environmentalists and activists are already meeting to find ways to change the state’s development laws.

“The question is, ‘Are those laws working, and if not what can be done to help improve them?’ ” said Alan Girard, senior land use policy manager for the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The foundation and activist group 1000 Friends of Maryland have hosted meetings with residents around the area, including this week in Harford and Frederick counties, with more forums planned for next month.

“There’s an expectation that the upcoming General Assembly and the legislators will be taking up the issue in a few months,” Girard said.

This story continues below
Advertisement

In the past 10 years it has become clear the laws need tightening, Girard said.

Maryland’s 1997 Smart Growth law aimed to direct development and funding to areas with existing infrastructure, but the law has been criticized for falling short.

In the past 15 years, 25 percent of new housing has been built outside planned development areas — accounting for 75 percent of the newly developed acres, according to state officials.

“We are seeing some growth trends that aren’t encouraging,” state Planning Secretary Richard Hall said in an interview.

As officials focus on directing growth into areas with infrastructure, those communities must be viable and desirable, he said.

For many residents, that means welcoming mixed-used zoning, where retail is built alongside residential. Mixed-use development is just taking hold in some suburban and rural areas, said Sally LaBarre, president of advocacy group Friends of Harford, who attended a forum Tuesday night.

“It’s something that is new enough that people are skeptical here,” she said, adding that the laws must encourage that growth.

Now, a state Task Force on the Future for Growth and Development is working on creating a state development plan to coordinate smart growth — a first for Maryland. The plan would take into account counties’ plans, Hall said.

Officials expect to have a draft of the plan ready by year’s end or early 2009, he said.

smichael@baltimoreexaminer.com