Consultants outline St. Mary's County comprehensive-plan update; public engagement drew about 288 participants

Consultants working on St. Mary's County's comprehensive-plan update told the Planning Commission on March 24 that early public outreach attracted about 288 participants and that the team plans a second community engagement window in late spring as it moves into drafting policies.

Leanne King, director at Clarion Associates, summarized findings from community engagement window one (Jan. 16'Mar. 3), saying the outreach included 12 visioning sessions (10 in person, two virtual), an online survey and two mapping activities. King reported 288 total participants across the in-person and online activities and said the project team is posting detailed results and comments on the project website and the publicinput.com platform.

Why it matters: the comprehensive plan sets the county's future land-use framework, growth strategy, transportation priorities and policy direction for utilities, conservation and housing; it informs later zoning and capital planning decisions.

Key themes from the engagement team: - Strong public support for balancing growth in identified development districts and town centers with protection of rural and agricultural areas and sensitive coastal wetlands. - Interest in targeted infrastructure investment to support redevelopment in aging areas and to address failing septic systems in remote locations; some respondents supported consideration of packaged treatment plants for areas with failing septic. - Demand for more walking and biking options, improved public transit connections and road-safety improvements in key corridors. - A desire for more affordable and workforce housing in growth areas to serve critical employees and young professionals; consultants said common practice in similar communities is defining workforce-affordable housing in a band roughly around 80% to 120% of area median income, though Clarion had not yet set a St. Mary's-specific income target.

King described the first engagement'window demographic skew (an overrepresentation of participants aged 45 and older relative to Census figures) and said 16 of the county's 27 ZIP codes were represented by respondents. Survey results showed broad agreement that the county should continue directing new development to growth areas and town centers and strong support for protecting sensitive natural resources. On housing, respondents generally favored smaller homes and townhomes in growth areas (about 76% agreed) and endorsed multifamily housing to a lesser degree (about 66% agreed); manufactured/mobile homes in growth areas produced no consensus.

The Clarion team proposed a simplified plan framework with three parts: an accessible introduction (including a glossary and monitoring approach); a policy section grouped into (1) guiding growth through 2050, (2) protecting environmental and agricultural resources, and (3) serving the community (facilities, transportation, housing, public health). The final plan would include a future land-use map and an implementation/action plan with monitoring metrics.

Planning commissioners and staff discussed outreach tactics for the next engagement window. Suggestions included public-intercept events (farmers markets, festivals), scanning QR codes at parks and sports events, short paper surveys to avoid mobile-loading issues, and earlier publicity. Deputy county attorney John Sterling Houser cautioned about Open Meetings Act constraints if staff or commission members gather in numbers that constitute a quorum, but said staff-run meetings with consultants are typical and can be managed to stay compliant.

Next steps: Clarion and county staff said they will begin drafting policy language, incorporate stakeholder interview findings and prepare for community engagement window two (targeted for May'June) to test draft policies and gather further input. The team aims for public hearings and plan adoption in early 2026 under the proposed timeline.

Materials and data collected in the first engagement window will be posted on the project website and in the publicinput.com project portal; Clarion flagged that report formatting will be finalized before broad distribution.