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Planning staff lay out four options to expand Rural Legacy areas; commissioners ask for public outreach and state clarification
Summary
Planning staff presented four proposed Rural Legacy expansion footprints for mid-eastern Calvert County, describing tradeoffs between preserving large contiguous tracts and potential effects on state-designated growth tiers; commissioners requested clearer maps and public engagement before deciding which option to advance.
Planning and zoning staff on Oct. 28 presented four options to expand Maryland's Rural Legacy areas in the mid-eastern part of Calvert County and asked the Board of County Commissioners for direction on public outreach and next steps.
Amalia Plique Tam, environmental planner, joined by Jen David (rural planner) and Ron Marney (environmental regulator), explained that the Rural Legacy program enables eligible landowners within designated areas to sell permanent conservation easements to the state to preserve large contiguous tracts for natural-resource, agricultural, forestry and environmental protection. The staff noted that the county currently has roughly 48,409 combined acres in designated Rural Legacy areas, of which about 25,025 acres are permanently preserved.
Staff presented four expansion options: Option 1 is the smallest and includes only tier 4 properties (467 parcels, ~3,520 acres) and therefore does not raise a growth-tier redesignation concern; Option 2 is larger and extends to the shore and includes some tier 3 parcels; Options 3 and 4 are still larger footprints that include more tier 3 properties and extend far enough north to fall within the one-mile review boundary of Chesapeake Beach municipality, which would trigger a 45-day municipal review period under state procedures.
Planning staff cautioned that including tier 3 parcels in a Rural Legacy expansion could require redesignation to tier 4, potentially reducing development capacity in those areas; the county is awaiting confirmation from the Maryland Department of Planning and the Department of Natural Resources on whether all tier 3 parcels in a proposed Rural Legacy expansion would be reclassified automatically.
Commissioners asked staff to improve map clarity (landmarks, creeks and large parcel markers), to identify how many large remaining privately held tracts each option would protect, and to conduct public outreach including town-hall information sessions and a survey before any final decision. Staff also said they had reserved a public meeting room for Nov. 17 to begin outreach work but noted tight state application deadlines if the county wanted RC&D to submit an application by the program's February deadline.
"Option 1 only involves tier 4 properties, so that's not affecting anyone that you could expand immediately," one commissioner said; other commissioners urged broad engagement and a clearer explanation of how an expansion would interact with existing zoning and critical-area protections.
Staff emphasized Rural Legacy is voluntary for owners inside a designated area and that other programs (MALPF, Maryland Environmental Trust, federal REPI in limited zones) can also support preservation but have different rules and funding structures. The board did not adopt a final footprint at the meeting and directed staff to return with clearer maps, large-tract counts per option and public outreach materials.
