State requires critical area update

County rules must change with law

Friday, Oct. 16, 2009

Maryland law requires that local jurisdictions update their Chesapeake Bay Critical Area programs every six years, according to county planners. Several state laws, including House Bill 1253 that was adopted by the Maryland General Assembly in 2008, Senate Bill 1030 adopted in 2007 and Senate Bill 751 passed in 2006 mandate some of the revisions to the program, said Charles County commissioners' President F. Wayne Cooper (D) in an earlier interview.

The county's program was last updated in 2001, according to county planners.

Proposed changes to the program include revisions to the county's critical area buffer regulations and an appendix to the buffer section of the program that addresses shore erosion control requirements. The revision would allow landowners to fill in spots on their property that are located within the buffer to repair lawn areas disturbed by weather events such as heavy rain.

Accessory structures such as sheds will also be allowed in the buffer modification areas if the revisions are adopted by the county commissioners.

Other revisions will address the growth allocation section of the program so that it is consistent with state regulations, including a mandate that areas that are being considered for growth allocation — a specific number of acres in the CBCA the state allows jurisdictions to develop — are required to meet certain criteria regarding the location of public improvements, floodplains, other areas of similar intensity and species habitats, according to county planners.

Other updates to the program address development within the county's limited development and resource conservation zone, including amending impervious surface regulations to focus on lot coverage as required by revisions to the state law, county planners said during the hearing.

Laura Cooke, an associate with Loiederman Soltesz Associates, a land planning, engineering and environmental service company with an office in Waldorf, said she was confused about which revisions were state-mandated and which were proposed by the county planning department.

"I can't distinguish between the state mandates and the county requirements," she said. "The county has got internal policies that don't apply to state law. I want to make sure that the county understands that local policies are not regulations. If there are too-specific standards there is no flexibility for individual sites. There's always extenuating circumstances specific to a site. We need to be able to work with staff and the state so we can do something environmentally sound that won't be too stringent and is not workable."

But Newburg resident Howard Dent said he is pleased with the planning staff's proposed revisions to the program.

"I'm impressed with the document," he said Wednesday. "The staff did a good job in incorporating the state and local regulations."

Dent said he also liked the proposal to create community piers in new developments rather than letting folks install private piers on their property.

"It really would help the water quality," he said.

The planning commission asked the planning staff to create a document that clearly defines which revisions are mandated by state law and which changes are being proposed by the staff that can be reviewed during the work session, which has not yet been scheduled.

In addition, the planning commission wants more information from the staff about how the proposed revisions will affect the rights of private landowners and what the fiscal impact of implementing the updates would be to property owners.

The planning commission will schedule a work session on the proposed revisions and then forward a recommendation to the county commissioners.

The commissioners will hold a public hearing and work session before rendering a decision on the matter.

Dent said the revisions to the county's critical area program should focus on what is best for Charles County.

"We shouldn't do the minimum; we should be looking at what's good for the bay," he said.

nmcconaty@somdnews.com