County planning staff outline comprehensive plan progress and early public feedback

The Department of Land Use and Growth Management updated the St. Mary’s County commissioners Tuesday on progress toward a new comprehensive plan, reporting results from the first community engagement window and laying out next steps for drafting policies.

Director Jessica Andritz said the county is finishing “phase 2,” in which vision and goals were established, and is moving into phase 3 to develop policies and strategies with a consultant team. “We are just wrapping up phase 2 where we're establishing the vision and goals and moving into phase 3 where we're going to start working with the consultant to develop various policies and strategies,” Andritz said.

Staff reported 12 community visioning sessions (10 in person, 2 virtual) and an online participation window that ran Feb. 3–March 3. County staff said 288 people engaged overall and 139 attended in-person or virtual sessions; activities included small-group discussions, surveys, and interactive mapping where participants placed stickers to indicate areas for growth or areas to avoid.

Key themes identified by the consultant team included preserving rural and agricultural landscapes and coastal wetlands; directing growth to designated development districts and town centers; expanding options for walking, biking and transit; and pursuing a broader range of housing types in growth areas to improve affordability. On housing, Andritz said participants supported smaller-footprint single-family homes, townhouses, condo-style multifamily, and rental options; “manufactured and mobile homes” were discussed in interviews but produced mixed survey results.

Survey highlights presented to the commissioners included: - Nearly all respondents agreed land use should balance protection of rural areas with directed growth in development districts. - About 84% agreed village centers should support small-scale businesses to serve nearby rural residents. - 63% agreed package treatment plants should be allowed in areas with septic failures. - 77% supported more sidewalks and trails; 76% supported smaller homes and townhouses in growth areas; 66% supported new multifamily housing in growth areas.

Commissioners pressed staff on clarifications: whether all development districts are served by water and sewer (Andritz said they are not), where multifamily or mixed-use development could be sited, and how transfer-of-development-rights (TDR) or EDU (sewer allocation) transfer programs operate. Andritz said the county maintains an EDU transfer notice process on the department website and that applicants may start the standard process outlined in the county’s SOP approved last year.

Andritz said the consultant recommends the plan be organized in three parts—guiding growth through 2050, protecting environmental and agricultural resources, and serving the community—with goals, policies and action items under each element. Staff said community engagement window 2 will ask more targeted questions and that a draft plan will be released for a third engagement window before the board considers final adoption.

Commissioners and staff discussed timing; Andritz noted the state requires comprehensive plans to be updated on a 10-year cycle and said a 2016 amendment had already modified the 2010 plan in part. Andritz said the department expects full survey results and written comments to be posted to the project web page by the end of the week.