| Maryland
Planning Directors Roundtable – Summer 2008 Meeting |
The
next quarterly meeting of Maryland Planning Directors’ Roundtable
will be held Thursday, July 31, 2008 at the University of Maryland
Baltimore County. The theme is “Sustainability:
Green and Smart Growth.” Click here for details. |
| Did
You Know? |
| It
is projected that more than one million additional people will
call Maryland home by 2030, a 20% population increase. As the
state prepares for these new residents, its communities will
face many growth and preservation challenges. The Maryland
Department of Planning is providing ten vital facts and
estimates that you should know. Click
here to visit “Did
You Know?” |
| MDP’s
State Data Center Preps for 2010 Census; Adds More Than
120 Thousand New Addresses U. S. Census Bureau Mailing
List |
| The
State Data Center participated in the U. S. Census Bureau’s
Local Update of Census Addresses (LUCA) Program. To date, Maryland
is one of a few states that
participated on a statewide basis. This measure leverages the
State for a more complete count in the 2010 decennial census.
Click here to view the Press Release |
| Task
Force on the Future for Growth
and Development |
The
sixth meeting of the Task Force on the Future for Growth
and Development in Maryland will be held on Monday, June
30, 2008. Please visit the Task Force portal for upcoming
meeting dates and information from past meetings.
The
Task Force was formed under House Bill 773 and was signed
into law in 2007. The 21-member Task Force is charged with
studying a wide range of smart growth and land use issues
effecting Maryland. A final report is due by December 1,
2008. Meetings of the Task Force will be held monthly, Click
here to visit the Portal Page
|
| Maryland
Heritage Areas Authority to Hold Hearing on Request to
Enlarge the Boundaries of the Stories of the Chesapeake
Heritage Area |
| The
Maryland Heritage Areas Authority will hold a public hearing
on a proposal to expand the boundaries
of the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area to include the
Towns of Denton (Caroline County); Preston (Caroline County);
Queen Anne (Queen Anne’s and Caroline Counties); Queenstown
(Queen Anne’s County); and Oxford (Talbot County). Click
here to view the press Release |
| MDP
Releases Report on Future of Growth and Development on
Eastern Shore |
Maryland’s
Eastern Shore has faced rapid growth in recent years. Over
the last three
decades, the Eastern Shore has experienced substantial losses
in agricultural and forest lands, large increases in developed
lands, worsening water quality, increased commuting times and
distances and a growing population that has strained public
services.
This nine county region is projected to grow by nearly 160,000
people over the next 25 years. If the Eastern Shore Region is
to maintain its traditional landscape, vibrant communities and
resource-based economies, visionary planning and land management
must occur.
MDP’s publication, A Shore for Tomorrow, was spurred by
these trends and the impact they will have on historic and cultural
resources and the region’s unique character. Click
here to download the report (in Adobe PDF)
|
| February
Issue of the BayStat Newsletter: Your Link to the Chesapeake
Bay |
One
of the O'Malley Administration's first actions after coming
into office was to create BayStat, an innovative program
to help the State better track, target and increase accountability
for its efforts to restore the Chesapeake
Bay. Less than a year later, this exciting tool has already
improved the way our government programs work for Bay health.
BayStat will help target the allocation of $50 million in
new funding under the Chesapeake Bay 2010 Trust Fund to provide
the most cost-effective water quality benefits.
The
BayStat public website was launched in September to
allow for a more transparent process and to afford every
citizen access to information about our Bay's health and
our work to improve it. The monthly BayStat newsletter
was created to keep you up to date on our progress and
to inspire you to join us in our shared work to revive
the Bay that we love. Check out the February issue of the
BayStat Newsletter. |
| First
in a series of Planning Guidance Bulletins |
| MDP released today the first in a series of Planning
Guidance Bulletins. This publication is intended to provide general
guidance to counties drafting the new sensitive areas and priority
preservation elements. House Bill 1141 requires that agricultural
and forest lands intended for resource protection or conservation
be included as part of the sensitive areas element of county
comprehensive plans. House Bill 2 requires that counties seeking
state certification of their agricultural land preservation program
designate Priority Preservation Areas (PPAs) and add a PPA element
to their comprehensive plan. Click here to open the Planning
Guidance Bulletin. |
| Maryland
Real Property Process |
Maryland
state government agencies often own and manage a huge portfolio
of real property. In some cases, this portfolio consists of
a large number of parcels. When these holdings no longer prove
to be productive assets for the state, it becomes necessary
to declare them surplus property – a designation that
can lead to transfer or disposition. When this occurs, the
State Clearinghouse for Intergovernmental Assistance, or the “Clearinghouse,” steps
in to administer a process that protects Maryland’s
natural resources and its investments in real property by applying
Smart Growth principles.
Please
click here for more information. |
| Maryland
Green Buidling Task Force Publishes Final Report |
| The
19-member Green Building Task Force delivered its final report
to Governor Martin O’Malley, Lt. Governor
Anthony G. Brown, President of the Senate Thomas V. “Mike” Miller,
Jr., Speaker of the House Michael E. Busch, Senator Joan Carter
Conway, Chair of the Senate Education, Health and Environmental
Affairs Committee and Delegate Maggie McIntosh, Chair of the
House Environmental Matters Committee. The report includes a
summary of Maryland’s green building efforts and offers
over 35 well-informed recommendations to address this vital challenge
to Maryland’s environmental sustainability. Click here
for the full report |
| MDP
Releases 2007 Annual Report |
The
Maryland Department of Planning released it's 2007 Annual
Report today. To view the complete report
click here.
Excerpt
from report:
The
mission of the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP)
is to promote “growth that fosters vibrant, livable
communities, preserves and protects the environment, and makes
efficient use of State resources.” Everything that
we do is guided by these principles of Smart Growth. |
| MDP
Launches a New Website for Public Access to Comprehensive
Plans |
| The
Department is proud to unveil a new site today that provides
access to the proposed comprehensive plans of local
jurisdictions and our comments to those plans. This new website
is responsive to Governor O’Malley’s initiative to
provide Marylanders open access to the workings of state government
and the public process. Providing access to these plans, also
known as master plans or master development plans, makes a somewhat
complicated and often closed process more open to the general
public. This site explains what comprehensive plans are, how
they are adopted, the importance to Smart Growth and the role
of the State in the process. Click
here to visit the Site To
view the press release (11/13/07) click here
|
| Maryland
Public Schools Interactive Map |
| As part of MDP's online BRAC resources, this online
tool can assist individuals relocating to Maryland to view public
school locations throughout the 23 counties and Baltimore City.
Users of this site can view proficiency scores and enrollment
for each school as well as overlay median residential home prices
for the year 2006 by census tract. Click here to enter MDP's
Maryland Public Schools Interactive Map. |
| Maryland
Launches Chesapeake BayStat Website |
| Maryland's
BayStat website, an innovative new tool that will afford citizens
greater, more immediate access to information on the health
of
Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, and the status of related
State programs and decision making was launched on September
12,
2007. BayStat was created to advance accountability and coordination
among key government agencies. The Mayland Department of Planning
joins forces with the Departments of Agriculture, the Environment
and Natural Resources, as well as University of Maryland, to
meet
monthly with the Governor and his staff to review efficiencies
of the state's Bay Restoration programs. This new website is
the
public face of BayStat, and will continue to be added to in the
coming months. Please
click here to visit BayStat |
