Commissioners defend smart growth program

Bowen says study is misleading

Friday, Dec. 11, 2009

The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners went to bat for the county's smart growth program in a response to a Nov. 2 Washington Post article, "Study Calls Maryland Smart Growth a Flop."

The Post story concerned a University of Maryland study, which concluded that after beginning an innovative program to limit sprawl and concentrate growth in 1997, the state, and more specifically local governments, had failed to follow up.

While the Post article did not explicitly mention Calvert County, the study did, citing Calvert for not directing growth to priority funding areas, or PFAs, and for average parcel sizes that increased after the program's implementation in 1998.

The 1997 legislation created the idea of PFAs, areas targeted for growth that would be eligible for state infrastructure spending.

But in a presentation to the commissioners, Director of Planning and Zoning Greg Bowen argued that the county had created its own smart growth program with its 1974 Comprehensive Plan, which increased lot density and instituted a transferable development rights program. In addition, the 1983 Comprehensive Plan introduced the concept of concentrating commercial and industrial growth around town centers. The county has since begun various land preservation programs, including the buying and retiring of development rights.

Bowen said that while the study found houses were built outside of the PFAs on larger lots, it didn't take into account the fact that many of those parcels had already been zoned well before 1997. The study also fails to analyze the impact of PFAs on commercial and industrial growth, Bowen said, adding that the state could help more by assisting with road studies and improvements and funding land preservation programs.

After Bowen's presentation, board President Wilson Parran (D) pegged it as the county's response to both the study and Post story and suggested sending a summary to the state. Commissioner Susan Shaw (R) asked that a letter to the editor be sent to the Post.

"Letting this stand is like endorsing falsehoods," she said.

Commissioner Barbara Stinnett (D) was not impressed with the study, which was published in the Journal of the American Planning Association.

"I don't know who their people are in the Journal of American Planning Association, I don't know who they are but I don't think they've done a super-special job and maybe they've been well overpaid," Stinnett said.

Commissioner Linda Kelley (R) was attending the Patuxent High School's annual NJROTC inspection and arrived at the meeting after the presentation.

Commissioner Jerry Clark (R) disregarded the study's finding altogether and said the county's success preserving land and maximizing space speaks for itself.

"I don't care what state smart growth people think. The people of Calvert County know how good a job this board and past boards and our staff is doing to preserve property in Calvert County and farmland and how hard we've worked at it," Clark said. "Not everybody wants to live in a city where they got to take a bus or a metro or someplace like that to go to work."

In other business,

the commissioners:

ï Voted unanimously to reappoint Karen Towne to the Owings Town Center Architectural Review Committee.

ï Voted unanimously to appoint Timothy Grover to the St. Leonard Architectural Review Committee and advertise another position vacated due to the recommendation that its previous holder, Dale Weems, not be reappointed.

ï Voted unanimously to appoint Robert Graham to the Social Services Advisory Board. A second vacancy is being advertised, and Shaw said it would be nice to receive an application from someone in the county's 1st district with experience in the financial sector. The vacating board member, Leo Ritter, who was not interested in reappointment, had financial experience, Shaw said, and following Graham's appointment, no current board members are from the 1st district.

ï Held an executive session regarding a contract for the Drum Point special taxing district. Executive sessions are closed to the public and often used to discuss contracts. Drum Point resident John Zalusky attended the meeting and asked during public comment that the session be made public.

"I for one would like to see more openness," Zalusky said.

Clark assured Zalusky that the contract would become open once it was up for ratification.

jnewman@somdnews.com