Planning Commission adopts temporary zoning change exempting some civic uses from FAR/TDR requirements

The St. Mary—'s County Planning Commission on Jan. 28 voted to adopt staff-recommended text amendments to the county zoning ordinance that rename the public and semi-public use classification to "civic and institutional," reclassify several uses into a commercial category, and exempt certain civic and institutional uses from the schedule of methods for achieving an increased floor area ratio (FAR). The commission attached a three-year sunset to the amendment.

The measure matters because it changes how some nonprofits and civic facilities can qualify for greater building area without buying transfer-of-development-rights (TDRs), potentially reducing the TDR burden for qualifying projects while prompting concerns that it could weaken the county—'s rural-preservation tools.

Staff member Yvonne Chele told the commission the proposal reflected ideas from a Jan. 14 work session and that the draft would: (1) rename the public and semi-public classification to "civic and institutional"; (2) move six uses that staff considered more commercial (including various day-care and medical…