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Task force asks commissioners to start public‑hearing process for annual growth policy and zoning text changes
Summary
A community task force presented recommendations on Nov. 13 urging St. Mary’s County to adopt an annual growth policy and to begin the public‑hearing process for related zoning and subdivision text amendments.
Members of the Adequate Public Facilities (APF) task force presented a final report and asked the Board of County Commissioners on Nov. 13 to initiate the public‑hearing process to adopt a growth policy and related zoning and subdivision text amendments.
Co‑chairs Jack Candela and Ford Dean told commissioners the task force—composed of 21 members representing business, farming, environmental, PTA, development and other community interests—had worked for more than two years to reconcile school capacity, residential growth and land‑use policy. The task force concluded the county should adopt a formal annual growth policy to align residential approvals with the county’s ability to provide schools and other infrastructure.
Ford Dean outlined a recommended procedural sequence: direct the Department of Land Use and Growth Management, in coordination with the county attorney, to prepare public‑hearing documents for a resolution establishing a growth policy and for the proposed zoning and subdivision text amendments; provide those documents to the planning commission and the task force for review (a suggested 60‑day review period); then schedule joint public hearings and return final proposals to the Board of County Commissioners for final action. Dean suggested a 45‑day target to prepare the initial public‑hearing papers.
Commissioners and staff agreed the matter is urgent, especially because two of three high‑school school districts are effectively closed to major residential approvals under current APF rules. County Administrator John Savage and commissioners asked staff to review the proposed timeline with the legal department and the planning commission and to return with a plan to take the documents to public hearing.
The task force also recommended several related items—updates to school capacity formulas, consideration of affordable‑housing impacts and further review of subdivision thresholds—which commissioners asked staff and the planning commission to address in subsequent work.
