PlanMaryland Is A Dream Come True For Bureaucrats

Gov. Martin O'Malley's statewide land-use initiative, PlanMaryland, employs soothing terms like "smart growth" and "sustainability" to lull Marylanders into accepting this ostensible effort to reduce sprawl. But it's nothing more than a power grab designed to replace land-use planning by local elected officials with micromanagement by unelected state bureaucrats in Annapolis.

Don't take our word for it. After reviewing the first draft of PlanMaryland released in April, the Maryland Association of Counties warned that it could "not support a plan that would impose a centralized state-controlled land use model" on member counties. The blowback forced O'Malley to issue a second draft and extend the public comment period to Nov. 7. Even with the extension, county officials statewide insist they need more time to review the proposal, especially since implementation details are conspicuously absent.

Western and rural counties are particularly concerned that this one-size-fits-all plan will stifle much-needed economic development in their communities and funnel their tax dollars to more densely populated areas. Their fears appear to be justified, since under PlanMaryland, O'Malley's Smart Growth Subcabinet will decide what is the highest and best use of all land within the state. That is an incredible amount of power to give to a small group of bureaucrats voters don't know and have no way of holding accountable.

O'Malley aides disingenuously claim that PlanMaryland is only meant to improve state and local coordination on land-use issues,and that local officials would still be free to approve new development. But Allegany County planning director Phil Hager points out"tremendous inaccuracies" in PlanMaryland maps, which do not parallel the maps prepared by local elected planning commissioners. Hager adds that state officials could not explain the discrepancies, leading him to characterize PlanMaryland as "the single largest intrusion upon local land use control" in Maryland history.

MACO concurs, noting that the second draft doesn't correct the main problem with the first: Under PlanMaryland, localities would be able to nominate certain areas within their boundaries as "Priority Funding Areas" -- where state resources would be targeted -- but the state would ultimately have the final say, leaving local elected officials to "participate only in an advisory and informational capacity."

It's easy to see where this top-down, Soviet-style, cookie-cutter central planning process is going in a state already known for its anti-business tax and regulatory policies. There's a good reason why land-use planning in Maryland has been the prerogative of local elected officials for more than two centuries, and there it should remain.

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This issue has not gotten the attention it requires.  It is a very dangerous exercise in centralized land use planning that gives enormous power to the Governor's people to achieve their goals by doling out state funds to counties that are "cooperative".  Carroll County Commissioners have been the most vocal. particularly Richard Rothschild who has been traveling the country trying to wake up other local officials that this is part of a much wider effort stemming from UN Agenda 21.  Agenda 21 is a plan which basically seeks to reduce private property ownership and cram people into small livable areas.   And if you are unfamiliar with Agenda 21, read the second article that I have included.  Ellen Sauerbrey