St. Mary’s launches ‘Saint Mary’s 2050’ visioning with multilingual outreach, public sessions
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Summary
Jessica Andritz, director of Land Use and Growth Management, outlined a multi‑phase comprehensive plan update called “Saint Mary’s 2050,” including a series of in‑person and online community visioning sessions (one fully in Spanish), consultant support, and a projected adoption window in winter 2025–2026.
Jessica Andritz, director of Land Use and Growth Management for St. Mary’s County, on Thursday announced the launch of Saint Mary’s 2050, a multi‑stage update of the county’s comprehensive plan that will rely on community visioning sessions, online tools and consultant support.
Andritz told the Economic Development Commission the project launched in fall 2024 and that the first public engagement window begins immediately with eight in‑person “community visioning” meetings already scheduled at libraries, a fire department and St. Mary’s College. The sessions will run about 90 minutes and include facilitated activities, surveys and mapping exercises. One session will be conducted entirely in Spanish with translation support from the health department.
The visioning process is intended to gather residents’ views about what they value today and what they want St. Mary’s County to look like in 25–30 years. Andritz said the county hired a consultant team (Clarion and subconsultants) to provide research and benchmarking and that staff will present draft plan sections for public review before the Planning Commission and County Commissioners consider adoption in winter 2025 or 2026. She emphasized the effort seeks broad and particularly inclusive outreach to underrepresented groups and social networks across the county.
Andritz said the project will combine in‑person work—large boards and sticker dots on maps to identify transportation and growth priorities—with online options including drag‑and‑drop digital mapping for people who cannot attend. She said the engagement will include a survey and questions about funding priorities later in the process, but the first round is intentionally framed as a “dream” or visioning phase so residents can describe long‑term values without immediate budget constraints.
Commission members asked about the make‑up and timing of the community engagement team and whether consultants would participate in the visioning sessions. Andritz said early meetings were held in December to recruit community connectors and that consultants will attend the initial sessions, but county staff will lead ongoing outreach to build local relationships. She also said the last comprehensive plan was adopted in 2010, with substantial amendments in 2016, and that this update is timed to re‑examine county direction for the next decades.
The department posted session dates and a QR code for the project website that allows residents to join the mailing list, see schedules and access online engagement tools.
