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Planners propose consolidated ‘master plan of town centers’ to speed updates
Summary
Planning staff proposed combining individual town‑center master‑plan updates into a single "master plan of town centers" to reduce duplication and prioritize the oldest town centers; the commission endorsed the format and timeline and staff will present drafts for review in March with possible hearings in May and June.
Tay Harris, the county’s long‑range planner, presented a staff recommendation to consolidate separate town‑center master plans into a single "master plan of town centers" at the Feb. 27 Planning Commission meeting. Harris said the approach would place countywide background and goals in chapter 1 and dedicate subsequent chapters to individual town centers, maintaining the existing three‑phase update process.
"The Department of Planning and Zoning proposes a new approach to streamline the town center master plan update process," Harris said, explaining staff wants to eliminate redundancy across individual updates. Harris also outlined a prioritization that would address the oldest town‑center plans first — Owings, Huntingtown, Lusby, Solomons and Saint Leonard — and described a timeline that would bring chapter 1 and the Prince Frederick chapter to the commission in March for review and potentially a public hearing in May and a Board of County Commissioners hearing in June.
The commission voted to endorse the recommended format and timeline. Commissioners asked staff to ensure the public has opportunities to review chapter 1 language when drafts are presented; Harris said chapter 1 material largely derives from the Prince Frederick draft and that a track‑changes version would be provided to show changes.
The endorsement directs staff to finalize draft chapters for Planning Commission review and, if directed, to initiate public hearings per the presented schedule. The commission did not adopt regulatory text in the meeting; it approved the staff format and timeline for further action.
