Jessica Andrich, director of the Department of Land Use and Growth Management, told the St. Mary's County Planning Commission on Dec. 12 that staff will replace draft broadband text with new language provided by the county's IT director.

Bob Kelly, St. Mary's County director of information technology, urged the commission to use the Federal Communications Commission's baseline for broadband (100 megabits per second download and 20 megabits per second upload) and to focus the comprehensive plan language on capacity and cost rather than on a single transport medium such as fiber. "If you don't have a baseline, then everybody's talking off a different page," Kelly said during the meeting.

Kelly said federal COVID-era funds and county investments have spurred competition among internet service providers, naming Comcast and Verizon Fios as recent large projects in the county, and stated that "99% of the addresses in the county can receive broadband service." He recommended avoiding technical prescriptions tied to a single medium because the document is intended to guide policy for the next decade.

Planning staff said they will adopt wording that emphasizes upload and download speeds, monthly connectivity cost, and coordination with state and federal funding programs. The revised draft will also tie fiber expansion priorities to growth areas, public facilities and efforts to close rural broadband gaps.

Next steps: planners will incorporate the IT‑provided language into the draft comprehensive plan and circulate the change for review at a future work session and in BoardDocs.