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Rising Sun opens public hearing on ordinance to create educational and cultural campus zoning district
Summary
At a Nov. 18 public hearing, Rising Sun officials reviewed Ordinance 2025-03, which would create a new "educational and cultural institution and campuses" zoning district; the town administrator said the Planning Commission recommended the change after meetings in August and September.
RISING SUN, Md.
The Town of Rising Sun opened a public hearing on Nov. 18 to consider Ordinance 2025-03, which would create a new zoning district for educational and cultural institutions and campuses. The hearing follows a Planning Commission recommendation and a re-advertisement after an earlier meeting was postponed.
Town Administrator Calvin reviewed the ordinance language and described the required process for zoning changes, saying the Planning Commission "met on August 18, September 8 and 09/22/2025 to discuss and develop and finalize its recommendation," which was then provided to the mayor and commissioners. Calvin told the board the town had to advertise the change and hold a public hearing as the next formal step.
The proposed ordinance's boilerplate language, read for the public record, cites municipal authority under the Maryland Constitution and the town's land use provisions. According to Calvin, the ordinance's purpose is to "provide for the development and use of land and buildings by educational and cultural institutions in a comprehensive campus-style environment, permitting educational and cultural uses along with closely related housing, administrative and support services while ensuring compatibility with adjacent land uses."
Calvin also told the board the hearing had originally been scheduled for Oct. 23 but was postponed because the town lacked a quorum; the item was re-advertised and placed on the Nov. 18 agenda.
At the start of the meeting the board unanimously moved to suspend the regular mayor-and-commissioners session to open the public hearing. No final vote on Ordinance 2025-03 was taken during the portion of the meeting recorded in the transcript; the public hearing portion began after the motion was approved.
The hearing record, as described by the town administrator, indicates the Planning Commission discussed the ordinance over three meetings in August and September and provided a formal recommendation. The ordinance's enactment language states it would amend chapter 12 of the Town of Rising Sun's codified ordinances in Cecil County, Maryland.
Next steps: the public hearing is open for comment and the board will later consider whether to adopt Ordinance 2025-03 following the hearing and any further deliberation.
