At the same meeting in which the 2002 Comprehensive Plan Update and an expansion to the Kent Island water treatment plan was approved, he said that the moratorium is necessary to give the county time to adopt implementing tools to manage this future growth.

The 2002 Comprehensive Plan is the result of more than a two-year process involving citizens, consultants and county staff. It will be the county's primary policy guiding document for the next six years. The sewer plant expansion will cost from $28 million to 33 million, a cost in which developers of large projects will share.

The moratorium not only sets a building permit cap of 400 for the year 2002 but will halt the public review process on all Critical Area growth allocations; water and sewer allocations; major site plans and subdivisions in the public review pipeline and administrative review on minor subdivisions.

According to county officials all pending subdivision and site plan applications will come under the new implementing ordinances that will be prepared during the moratorium, which will have a sunset of Nov. 21. Approved projects will continue under current ordinances.

The building permit cap includes a limit of 188 for Kent Island. The cap numbers were established by recent historic averages, according to director of planning and zoning Steven Kaii-Zeigler. This year, for example, at the current rate of issuance he estimated that 390 residential permits would be issued.

The "spike" to which the county commissioners refer is that 5,700 new residential permits could be approved by Queen Anne's County and municipal jurisdictions this year. This is compared to the 3,922 that were approved since 1980. This does not mean that the proposed new homes will be built all at once, even if they are all approved. The buildout for the three largest neighborhoods is estimated at 10-12 years by the developers. 

"So it's the rate of growth that concerns us, not growth in general," O'Donnell told a small audience at the regular March 21 county commission meeting. He also pointed out that the county is concerned about the possibility of growth exceeding the capacity of available public services.

"Our focus will be to ensure that the county cannot be overwhelmed with annual numbers of residential permits that far exceed our ability to accommodate them from both a social and infrastructure standpoint," he said while introducing the motion on the moratorium.

According to a statement from commissioner John McQueeney the moratorium will give the county time to prepare and adopt the following implementation tools:

* A comprehensive zoning and subdivision ordinance that is the implementation companion to the Comprehensive Plan;
* Comprehensive rezoning components that are necessary to the six growth area plans as well as the Comprehensive Plan;
* A comprehensive adequate public facilities ordinance (APFO) that is also a companion to the Comprehensive Plan;
* Master water and sewer plan update and a renewed sewer allocation policy that is the implementation companion to the APFO;
* A new street and roads ordinance that is part of a new transportation master plan;
* A Route 50/301 Kent Island transportation plan;
* And a Critical Area Growth Allocation policy.

O'Donnell said that there were two primary reasons for a six-month time period. "That's how long we think it will take to get the job done," he said of an effort that will utilize all the time of certain portions of the staffs of various county departments, primarily planning and zoning as well as public works.

In the statement read at the regular meeting, he said, "We will endeavor to complete our work in the shortest time possible so that the business development community of QAC can get back on track," recognizing that the moratorium will have a significant impact on construction jobs.

Director of planning Kaii-Zeigler explained that his staff would be free to work on the moratorium goals since their time will not be needed on new applications. The county will also hire outside private-sector planning consultants for additional expertise, he said.

He also said that the public review process will be "streamlined," utilizing focus groups, as was the case in the formulation of the recent impact fee ordinance. 

Attracting development into growth areas and continued rural land preservation efforts were cited as the key reasons for approving the moratorium, the sewer plant expansion and the 2002 Comprehensive Plan.

With 88 percent of Queen Anne's County land zoned as rural, 26 percent of county acreage is now preserved under various programs. Since growth areas were established in 1997, 56 percent of new residential and 76 percent of new commercial development has located in those regions.

According to a chart presented at the meeting, since 1997 in Queen Anne's County 1,145 acres have been developed while 14,370 acres have been preserved.

Preventing sprawl in rural areas was cited as a key reason for the new Comprehensive Plan and expansion of the sewage wastewater treatment plant. Commissioner Marlene Davis said rural sprawl brings more septic systems that "are harmful to the environment and health of the Chesapeake Bay."

Other reasons cited by Davis for expanding the plant now are: To stimulate economic development and commercial business growth; lower costs to customers; improve water quality by installing biological nutrient reduction (BNR) methods to reduce nitrogen discharge; and since state funding is available now, waiting would increase future construction costs.

In addition to new neighborhoods going through the public review process, the two current communities that will be most affected by the wastewater plant expansion are Kent Island Estates and Romancoke.
The Kent Island plant serves the growth areas of Stevensville, Chester, Grasonville, and Kent Narrows.

Commission chairman O'Donnell called the Comprehensive Plan, the wastewater plant expansion and the moratorium a "three-pronged" approach to managing future growth.

He noted that there are current applications for 2,400 potential lots with the potential for applications of 3,300 additional lots.

O'Donnell also praised the efforts of citizens who have communicated their concerns about growth in various venues in recent years. "We will continue to listen to input from citizens and community interests," he said.  

©The Star Democrat 2002