La Plata, MD – The 2016 Charles County Comprehensive Plan and newly passed Watershed Conservation District (WCD) are now law, but there is still a little leftover housecleaning to do, namely, determining which developments within the new WCD low-density zone will continue to go forward.
The Charles County Planning Commission debated extending subdivision plans within the WCD Monday, Aug. 7.
“The process we’re about to engage in is a two-tiered approach,” Charles County Planning Director Steve Ball told commission members. “The first part is, the plan will come before you for a project extension which is provided for in our code.”
Projects will qualify for an extension if they are eight years or older, he said.
“If there are major projects, they would come before you,” Ball stated. “If they’re minor, I would approve them. Once their plan is 25 percent completed, they do not need another extension.”
“Is twelve years the maximum they can be extended?” Planning Commission Member Nancy Shertler asked.
“For new projects,” Ball answered. “These are old projects, older than twelve years. They get a twelve-year window. That’s how the code was written. They get one more chance to decide if they really want to do this or not.”
“The intention was to give them that last chance without going too far into the future,” Charles County Planner Heather Kelley explained. “Some will require less than the four-year extension.”
She said storm water management and state archaeological requirements would be addressed as the process proceeded.
“As we work on this, it is clear there is no continuity to these projects,” Charles County Resource Manager John Mudd said. “Our plan is to bring them to you two at the time. If we tried to bring them to you all at once it would give you a headache. We’re working real hard to make this as easy as possible for everyone involved.”
“There are 30 or so projects,” Ball noted. “I would expect the process to go on for several years.”
“Identifying and notifying these applicants before they come before you for extensions will require an extensive, complex evaluation,” Mudd added. “Each of these would have a public meeting but not a public hearing.”
If code changes have occurred since the development projects were initially approved, Ball said that most of his staff’s work will be to bring them up to code.
Contact Joseph Norris at joe.norris@thebaynet.com