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Commission reviews Priority Preservation Area draft, flags mapping errors and funding pressure from solar projects
Summary
Staff presented a draft Priority Preservation Area chapter and maps; commissioners asked staff to correct map numbering and proposed tying periodic acreage updates to MALPF recertification cycles. The draft adds county compensation options and flags reduced funding for permanence programs that make easements less competitive versus solar offers.
Leslie Grundon presented a draft of the Priority Preservation Area (PPA) chapter for the county’s comprehensive plan and walked the commission through a clean copy, a redline against the 2010 chapter and three maps showing the PPA, solar project locations and lands already in permanent easement.
What staff recommended: Grundon said the PPA acreage fell from about 176,000 acres (2010) to about 126,000 acres after prior revisions and the removal of lands already under permanent easement. She proposed adding a short paragraph committing the commission to periodically revise PPA acreage to remove lands placed in permanent easement — suggested triggers included following MALPF recertification cycles or a multi-year review. Grundon also proposed adding county permanent-easement compensation as an implementation strategy and working with Rural Legacy and the Maryland Environmental Trust to coordinate preservation efforts.
Mapping and accuracy: Commissioners caught numbering and placement errors on the draft maps (several solar projects were misnumbered or placed incorrectly on the reference map). Staff committed to correcting map labels and updating the permanent-easement layer with records from county staff prior to returning a final draft.
Funding and policy pressures: Grundon highlighted that reduced funding for MALPF and similar programs will make it difficult for easement programs to compete with solar developers’ offers. Commissioners discussed policy levers the county can use (for example, awarding extra points in MALPF ranking for properties in the PPA or within a buffer of transmission lines) and noted staff planned to continue coordination with regional partners and to consider legislative outreach if state renewable-energy mandates affect county preservation goals.
Next steps: Staff will update the maps, add the periodic-update language tied to recertification cycles, include permanent-easement compensation language within implementation strategies, and return a revised chapter for final review at the January meeting. The department also plans to deliver a shorter draft of the water-resources element at that meeting.
