published October 10, 2006
As Anne Arundel County buckles down for tens of thousands of new residents by 2010, growth experts are encouraging politicians to adopt a new development model that differs from the trend of the past 50 years.
"The planning process has gone askew," said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends of Maryland, a group that monitors development.
Development patterns have damaged waterways and clogged roads, she said.
"We've been working short-termed and reactively for 50 years," she said.
As such, Ms. Schmidt-Perkins said, a long-term plan is needed to determine the shape of growth.
"It seems we need to figure out what we want to be and then implement the right policies," she said.
Last night, experts met at the Cade Center at Anne Arundel Community College to discuss projected growth with citizens and politicians in an attempt to lay the groundwork for healthy development throughout the county and region.
The event was organized by County Council members and included growth analysis from the National Center for Smart Growth at the University of Maryland, 1000 Friends of Maryland and the Urban Land Institute's Baltimore District Council for Reality Check Plus Maryland.
"This is a foundation discussion for the General Development Plan," said County Councilman Ed Reilly, R-Crofton, one of the event's organizers.
Mr. Reilly said that no matter what the pressing concerns may be, the way every issue plays off the other needs to be considered to guarantee that smart growth principles are adhered to.
In late September, Reality Check Plus released a study that identified the environment and transportation as the biggest growth-related concerns in central Maryland.
Rich Hall, a manager with the growth division of the Maryland Department of Planning, said Maryland can expect 1.5 million new people by 2030 and Anne Arundel County will feel the weight of the population boom earlier than others because of the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure program.
"One thing is for certain: It's speeding up the pace of what is on the way," he said.
The BRAC program will bring 5,300 military and government jobs to Fort George G. Meade by 2010.
Tens of thousands of defense contractor jobs are expected to sweep in on their heels, raising concerns about diminishing green space and strains on infrastructure and roads.
"Smart transit is such a key part of smart growth," said Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, staff attorney for Environment Maryland.
When confronted with traffic jams, most people's knee-jerk reaction is to demand more roads, she said, but more roads only encourage more people to drive and in turn creates more congestion.
The solution, Ms. Bevan-Dangel said, is in initiatives that put fewer cars on the road.
"The sexy transit is rail. Everyone wants rail," she said.
But at the same time, trains aren't always practical, she said, and other simpler modes should be considered. Ms. Bevan-Dangel said it might be better for the county to encourage car-pooling by connecting people through a Web site or to create an efficient bus system.
Throughout the development process, said Erin Fitzsimmons, regional director for the Waterkeeper Alliance, it's important to keep in mind the impact that growth will have on waterways.
"What we do on the land ends up in the water," she said. Transportation, emissions, housing, stormwater management and commercial and residential decisions all trickle down into creeks, rivers and the bay.
"What we build and how we build it is just as important as where we build it," she said.
Ms. Fitzsimmons said all of the watersheds in the county are impaired to some degree, and one possible way of controlling the damage is to concentrate well-managed growth in one area while protecting all the others.
"It's always better to protect than restore natural resources," she said.
Ms. Schmidt-Perkins said one of the most important steps in creating a new development model is to include input from different and competing agendas to figure out what can actually be agreed upon.
"When we sit down together with people we normally do battle with, we can reach agreements all the time," she said.
- No Jumps-
Published October 10, 2006, The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
Copyright © 2006 The Capital, Annapolis, Md.
