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Planning Commission forwards revised Chesapeake Bay critical area maps to county commissioners
Summary
After a staff presentation and one public commenter, the Planning Commission voted to forward state-produced revised critical area boundary maps to the Commissioners of St. Mary's County for formal adoption; staff and a caller discussed implications for property owners when mapped shorelines shift.
The St. Mary's County Planning Commission voted to forward state-prepared, revised Chesapeake Bay critical area boundary maps to the Commissioners of St. Mary's County for adoption.
Bill Hunt, director of the Department of Land Use and Growth Management, described the maps as a state-produced, electronically digitized update to shoreline and tidal-wetland boundaries that replaces older hand-drawn 1972 shorelines. Hunt said the mapping project was led by the Maryland General Assembly'mandated process (House Bill 1253, 2008) and carried out by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the Critical Area Commission using color-infrared imagery, LIDAR, aerial photography and GIS. Local staff and Salisbury University assisted; field visits were used to ground-truth some areas.
Hunt said the revised maps redraw the line used to measure the 1,000-foot critical area boundary and that local governments are required to adopt the new maps without change. The county's GIS division posted comparison maps on the county website after a public information meeting in August 2018 and staff has responded to property owners' questions and arranged field verifications when the Critical Area Commission undertook reviews.
During the public hearing, a caller identified as Donnie (Tommy) Mills of Hollywood said his 2.1-acre lot had previously been entirely outside the critical area but would now fall completely inside the revised boundary. Mills asked whether the county zoning ordinance provisions that attach to critical-area properties'for example, maximum lot coverage rules and limits on accessory apartments'would immediately apply and whether property owners would be individually notified. County staff replied that adoption updates the zoning map countywide and that the local Critical Area Ordinance (CZO) will be amended separately to align with COMAR and state requirements; staff also said overlay buffers and other site-specific rules (such as the 200-foot buffer and flood-plain requirements) remain governed by existing rules and that variance routes remain the administrative avenue where applicable.
Commissioners asked clarifying questions about whether the map change would necessarily require hearings or variances for individual property projects. Staff emphasized that not all development in the critical area requires a variance and that many permitting questions are resolved through site-level review. Staff also noted that flood-plain determinations and mortgage-required flood certifications are distinct processes.
A motion to forward the revised county critical-area boundary maps to the Commissioners of St. Mary's County for adoption passed on roll call with recorded ayes from Kim Summers, Betty Robrecht, Joe Van Kirk, Merle Evans, BJ (PJ) Hall and Joe Fazekas.
Hunt said staff will continue public outreach and that comparison maps and supporting materials remain available on the county website. The Planning Commission noted the maps are a state-produced product and that the local Critical Area Ordinance will be brought into alignment with state regulation in a separate amendment process.
