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Survey shows majority support for St. Mary’s County draft land-use map, presenters say
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Summary
Presenters reported about 63% of participants supported the draft land-use map and noted broad geographic representation across ZIP codes; housing goals showed especially strong support while some economic and tourism goals drew concern about infrastructure capacity.
Leanne, the project presenter, told the commission that about 63% of survey participants supported the draft land-use map and that responses came from many ZIP codes across the county. She said the project team used a 70% threshold to identify goals with strong support and that roughly eight of nine growth-management goals met that threshold.
Housing and economic development: Leanne said all five housing goals received at least 70% support. On economic development, five of seven goals met the 70% threshold; however, some participants and commissioners raised concerns that expanding tourism could strain public facilities and utilities unless public-facilities and transportation sections address those impacts.
Sample size and representativeness: Commissioners noted the overall response numbers and local concentrations when weighing requests for map changes. One commissioner summarized the county population and survey responses as roughly 115,000 residents and about 1,300 total responses, prompting discussion about whether isolated local comments should drive map changes in particular places.
What’s next: The presenter said the project website will host the full report, including the detailed survey and comment data, and that the team will carry these findings forward into the next stages of the comprehensive-plan update.
