Please review this resolution, then let the Commissioners know what you think before Tuesday evening.
They can be contacted by   email: qacc@qac.org   fax:410-758-1170   phone:410-758-4098
KIDL

WHEREAS we, the County Commissioners, have instructed the Planning Commission to revise the County’s Land Use and Development Code (Title 18);

WHEREAS we expect that the Planning Commission will complete by mid-April of 2003 those revisions to Title 18 that are of the highest priority and best completed before the current comprehensive rezoning cycle is closed, while leaving to appropriate subsequent time periods the enactment of revisions that are of lower priority or require more time to accomplish;

WHEREAS we believe that policy guidance from the County Commissioners will be helpful to the Planning Commission as it revises Title 18, and creates a growth tool in both the time period before mid-April and subsequent thereto; and

WHEREAS our policy guidance, and therefore the revised Title 18, should reflect the Vision for Our Future that has been embraced by the voting citizens of the County and their newly elected Board of Commissioners, namely, that Queen Anne’s County should be:

• a predominantly rural county, with small towns connected by creeks and country roads through fields and forests – a good place to live;

• a county that encourages agriculture, seafood and maritime industries, tourism and outdoor sports, small businesses and high-tech enterprises – a good place to work;

• a county that is a faithful steward of its natural and cultural heritage – a good neighbor of the Bay and the other Eastern Shore counties;

• a county in which development by some does not impair the quality of life enjoyed by all – a good community that protects the expectations and opportunities of all its citizens; 

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the County Commissioners call upon the Planning Commission to revise Title 18 in accordance with the guidance set forth in the following Growth Policy to Protect the Heritage of Queen Anne’s County:

1.  Growth Management.  To prevent runaway residential development from overwhelming all present and future strategies to preserve the County’s open spaces and small towns, the Planning Commission should, as its highest priority:  -- Adopt growth management tools that will keep the rate of residential development in the County from exceeding in the coming years what it has averaged over the past ten years. 

In implementing the Growth Management policy guidance, we expect the Planning Commission to:

-- take appropriate account of development within municipalities so that overall County residential growth does not accelerate above the historic rate; 

-- preserve adequate residential development opportunities for smaller builders and developers; and

--control  zoning and subdivision, as well as building permit issuance, to yield actual residential construction consistent with the historic rate.

2.  Rural Preservation.   To preserve the County’s unique working landscape and precious environmental resources, the Planning Commission should:  -- Adopt growth management controls and ordinance provisions for residential and commercial development outside the Growth Areas so that, as contemplated by the 2002 Comprehensive Plan (Vol. 1, p. 30), four-fifths or more of residential and commercial growth occurs within Growth Areas.

In implementing the Rural Preservation policy guidance, we expect the Planning Commission to include steps to: 

-- strengthen mechanisms by which development rights associated with prime rural land will be transferred to and utilized in Growth Areas; and

-- adopt standards that will adequately safeguard rural lands and waters, as provided in the Resource Conservation policy guidance (no. 7, below).

3.  Kent Island.  To preserve an Eastern Shore quality of life for the many residents of fragile, threatened Kent Island, we call upon the Planning Commission to:-- Bring substantially to a close, for the duration of the next five-year comprehensive rezoning cycle, the creation of any new buildable residential lots on Kent Island.

In implementing the Kent Island policy guidance, we expect the Planning Commission to:

--remove, for reconsideration and possible future phasing-in, the high-density residential zoning of the Stevensville and Chester Master-Planned Development Districts; 

-- assume that the severely limited capacity available in the near-term from the KNSG Wastewater Treatment Facility will be primarily allocated on Kent Island to existing needs such as homes with failing septic systems and in the Grasonville and Kent Narrows Growth Areas to the new residential and commercial development specified below; and

-- take full account at all times of the disproportionate and unacceptable burdens, in terms of water, air, light, and noise pollution, traffic congestion, and other injuries to quality of life, that have been imposed on Kent Island residents by virtue of past development policies. 

4.  Grasonville and Kent Narrows.  To strengthen civic and business activity in Grasonville and to improve the quality of life of those County residents for whom it is the principal town center, and to enhance Kent Narrows as an outstanding commercial and recreational destination, the Planning Commission should: -- Encourage commercial, residential (including multi-family), and public institutional development on and adjacent to the Route 18 Main Street of Grasonville, together with further single-family residential development to the south on a street network that interconnects in a traditional pattern with the Main Street district; and -- Facilitate commercial development at Kent Narrows that exploits its unique assets as an Eastern Shore cross-roads of land and water.

In implementing the Grasonville and Kent Narrows policy guidance, we expect the Planning Commission to: 

-- encourage preservation of a “greenbelt” surrounding the growth area south of Route 18; 

-- discourage “gated” or limited-entrance residential enclaves in the Grasonville area; 

-- in Grasonville, but also County-wide, establish mixed-use and home business regulations that encourage the growth of non-commuting employment; and 

-- at Kent Narrows, proceed with careful sensitivity to the esthetic and environmental values of this special place.

 5.  Queenstown.  To resolve the growing controversy over proposals for a large-scale residential subdivision and major commercial node adjacent to Queenstown, and to ensure full public participation in a planning process that is perceived as transparent by an awakened citizenry, we ask the Planning Commission to:  -- Postpone zoning changes in the Queenstown Growth Area, holding open the comprehensive rezoning cycle for this Area pending deliberations of a new Citizen Advisory Committee and reconsideration of the Growth Area Plan by the Planning Commission.

In implementing the Queenstown policy guidance, we expect the Planning Commission to: 

-- approach Queenstown Growth Area planning and zoning in light of such recent developments as the recognition of the exceptional scenic value of Route 18/213, the land use policies set forth in this Resolution, particularly those recognizing Grasonville, Kent Narrows and Centreville as higher priority Growth Areas, and the importance of preventing commercial strip development along major highways adjacent to Growth Areas;

-- work closely with the Town officials and the Town citizens holding referendum power over annexations, with a view to producing mutually agreed, coordinated development inside and outside the municipal boundaries; and 

-- give special attention to affordable housing, particularly as it may be provided by infill development and renovation of existing structures.

6.  Centreville.  To recognize that Centreville is the governmental, institutional and commercial center of our County, and to make Centreville as attractive a place to live, work and visit as are Chestertown to our north and Easton to our south (while avoiding their mistakes), we ask the Planning Commission to:  -- Complete the planning and zoning process for the Centreville Growth Area, providing for substantial new residential and commercial development that respects, replicates and connects organically with the historic town center and existing town streets and neighborhoods.

 In implementing the Centreville policy guidance, we expect that the Planning Commission will: 

-- work with Town officials and citizens, encourage affordable housing, and discourage commercial strips on adjacent highways, as set forth above with respect to Queenstown; and

-- affirmatively seek out and involve those individuals and business enterprises with the energy and creativity to grow Centreville in ways that will enhance it as a place to live, work, and visit, while protecting its historic character and the greenbelt of its surrounding countryside.

 7.  Resource Conservation. To preserve and enhance the land, water and other natural systems on which our quality of life and the employment base of the County depend, we ask the Planning Commission to:  -- Review environmental and development practices permitted by Title 18 for the purpose of preventing any further adverse impacts on the County’s natural resources.

 In implementing the Resource Conservation policy guidance, we expect that the Planning Commission will:

 -- re-visit and improve existing standards, such as those for Bay and stream buffering, groundwater and stormwater management, wetland protection, forest retention and afforestation, habitat protection, and piers; 

-- invite and consider proposals to develop new standards, such as, for example, to protect the scenic vistas from our country roads or to ensure that outdoor lighting will not impact migratory birds; and

-- produce guidelines, consistent with the Vision for Our Future and the policy guidance contained in this Resolution, for the use of Critical Area Growth Allocation.

8.  Comprehensive Planning.  To preserve the Eastern Shore way of life in all of Queen Anne’s County, we ask the Planning Commission to:  -- Plan land use for the whole County, treating the planning and zoning activities of the municipalities as key components of the County’s land use and development responsibilities.

In implementing the Comprehensive Planning policy guidance, we expect the Planning Commission will: 

-- maintain information on municipality plans, zoning ordinances, proposed subdivisions, building permits, and proposed annexations; and 

-- work proactively with municipalities to coordinate and accommodate development occurring in the county and municipal jurisdictions.

 9.  Planning With Vision. – To help us all toward planning decisions that will express and translate into reality a shared Vision for Our Future, we ask the Planning Commission to:  -- Describe, in accessible visual forms, for the citizens and their elected representatives, the grand patterns that characterize our County’s natural and built environment, so that we may be, in what we build here, faithful stewards of our part of the oldest continuously worked landscape in America, bordering on our nation’s largest estuary. 

In implementing our policy that Title 18 should reflect a shared Vision of Our Future, we expect the Planning Commission to identify and map the prime agricultural soils, the farms and farm sizes, creeks and small streams, forests and tree species, roads and viewsheds, preserved lands, developed areas, densities and heights, connections with the larger Delmarva environment -- all the characteristics of our landscape that should be ever on our minds as we go about the business of development.  We must develop with, and not against, the natural and traditional patterns of our County home, and to do that, we must understand what those patterns are. 

 10. Public Participation.  To reaffirm our commitment to the democratic principle that the County’s land use and development law is, like any other law, ultimately for the voting citizens of this County to decide, we ask the Planning Commission to:  -- Review and strengthen the practices and procedures of the Planning Commission and the staff, to ensure informed public participation in all phases of land use and development decision-making, from planning through building-permit issuance and enforcement.

 We are concerned by the widespread distrust and suspicion that so many voters have expressed so forcefully to us concerning land use and development decision-making in our County.  We intend that this atmosphere will change.  To change it, County officials and staff must make themselves regularly available to interested citizens, must encourage volunteer contributions toward public policy, and must enable citizens to see for themselves how decisions are being made. 

In implementing the Public Participation policy guidance, we expect that the Planning Commission will: 

-- consider further steps to make Title 18 and its maps more user-friendly, e.g. by combining them in a single document and using color to show different areas of land use and by making the definitions, table of contents and numbering system used within the ordinance as clear and informative as possible; 

-- use notices and, where appropriate, direct mail communications to apprise affected members of the public of proposed actions relating to development; and 

-- conduct, and require major developers to conduct, information sessions and hearings for the purpose of informing interested citizens and receiving input from them. 

 AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that, beginning with this period in which Title 18 is being revised, we call upon the Planning Commission to prepare and furnish to the County Commissioners and the public, five days after the end of each month, a report on subdivision and building permit activity in all County planning districts and incorporated municipalities during that month, supplemented if necessary by interim reports in the event of unusual activity.

We expect that the Planning Commission will structure and implement this activity report so as to enable the County Commissioners to take, on a timely basis, any emergency actions that may be necessary to safeguard the public health, safety, or welfare of the County, or any interim measures that may be necessary to preserve our planning and zoning jurisdiction during the revision period.