Commission directs staff to craft ordinance tightening cluster-subdivision buffer rules

The Queen Anne's County Planning Commission authorized staff to prepare an ordinance to revise county code paragraph 18-1-218 addressing cluster-subdivision buffer yards, including when buffers must be planted, planting density and species standards, and limiting the requirement to major cluster subdivisions.

Rob Gunter, the county's principal planner, summarized proposed changes that move existing paragraph text into a bulleted format for clarity, require the buffer yard to be implemented prior to issuance of permits (typically at the grading-permit stage when roads and infrastructure are installed), and suggest landscaping specifications drawn from the county's utility-scale solar landscaping standards. "We were requiring that the property owner would have to implement the buffer yard prior to the issuance of a permit," Gunter said, noting that…