An executive order signed Monday by Gov. Martin O’Malley lays the groundwork for a long-term plan to address sustainable growth in the state.Dubbed PlanMaryland, the proposal has drawn the ire of some elected officials representing rural communities.

“I’m thinking of a ladylike way to express how I feel about PlanMaryland,” Delegate Kathy Afzali said. “It’s horse manure.”

Frederick County Board of Commissioners President Blaine Young, who is leading a charge of rural counties in Maryland seeking a stronger voice in Annapolis, said the governor’s decision to act now did not come as a surprise.

“It just reinforces the arrogance of this governor toward rural counties,” Young said. “To me, it’s a slap in the face to rural counties.”

The governor failed to work with the rural counties, Young said, and the state should have spent more time going over the details of the plan.

“The governor has woken up and united a lot of the rural counties in terms of getting more involved in what’s gong on in Annapolis,” Young said. “If we don’t work together, we’re not going to be effective.”

There is fear the plan will take land use authority away from local leaders and give control to the state, Young said. He also took issue with how priority funding will be defined for development and which communities will get it.

Young said he hoped the legislature will act and have more debate before the plan is implemented. He also said the newly formed coalition of rural counties may consider legal action to block PlanMaryland.

Afzali said she did not disagree with the entire plan, but was concerned about the precedent set by the governor moving it forward with an executive order.

The order signed by the governor attempts to discredit some of the allegations coming from the opposition. Specifically, it states that local planning and zoning authority will not be replaced. The governor’s office also reiterated that the plan was fully vetted and was the subject of two public hearings this year, meetings with more than 3,000 people across the state and open for discussion online through surveys and social media.

In a statement, O’Malley said the plan will “serve as a tool for targeting state resources with maximum transparency to encourage smarter growth.”

“In the long run, that means a healthier environment, stronger communities and a more sustainable future and a better quality of life for our kids,” he said.

The plan is far from complete, according to the governor’s office. State agencies will spend the coming months identifying changes in development strategy.

O’Malley spokeswoman Raquel Guillory took offense at comments made by the plan’s opponents.

“The governor has demonstrated his commitment to rural development,” Guillory said. “If there is any part of the state that benefits the most, it’s rural Maryland.”

She stressed that the plan enacts no laws and grants no power.

“The counties can still do what they want,” Guillory said. “If you want to grant a permit to a developer who wants to build outside of a planning area, we’re just not going to support it with state resources.”

Those in Frederick County who have rallied behind the plan, called Monday a great day for the state.

“The governor stood firm against special interests that wanted to weaken PlanMaryland,” Friends of Frederick County Executive Director Janice Wiles said. “Instead of enabling sprawl, the state can now move forward with a development strategy that builds a strong, diversified economy. I think PlanMaryland ensures that development benefits all citizens and not just the land developers who played a part in creating the economic mess we are in today.”

By Pete McCarthy

AT A GLANCE- THE MOTION: To discontinue the public hearings immediately and send (the 2010 Comprehensive Plan) back to the Board of County Commissioners with no change to the current plan and zoning - THE VOTE: Passed 4-2 (with one person absent) - Catherine Forrence: Yes - Robert Lawrence: No - John McClurkin: Yes - Richard Floyd: Yes - Audrey Wolfe: No - Robert White Jr.: Yes - Billy Shreve: Absent

The Frederick County Planning Commission voted Thursday night to recommend that the county’s current land-use plan not be changed.Instead of moving forward with a second public hearing on proposed planning and zoning changes, Planning Commissioner Robert White Jr. called on his colleagues to end the “charade.”

“Last night I felt I was in Wonderland with the world turned upside down,” White said, referring to Wednesday’s public hearing on the matter. “This is really a travesty.”

Four public hearings had been scheduled, and no action was supposed to be taken until those were completed.

White’s request, however, was approved by a majority of the planning commission, which means their recommendation to keep the plan as is will now go to the Board of County Commissioners for further consideration.

When the 2010 plan was adopted, White said the county spent more than two years completing studies to see if roads, schools and other resources could handle the growth. That was not the case this time, he said.

“You’re doing something in the dark,” White said. “That’s not planning. That’s like playing Russian roulette.”

Earlier this year, Commissioners President Blaine Young and his colleagues decided to review the county’s comprehensive plan that regulates development, which had just been adopted in 2010. The newly elected board members said they were keeping a campaign promise to revert certain zoning changes back to ones that promote residential and commercial development.

“That’s their prerogative, but it has nothing to do with land-use planning,” Planning Commissioner Catherine Forrence said. “There was nothing wrong with the comprehensive plan. … I think we’re just wasting people’s time.”

Many of the same land-use attorneys who were present for Wednesday’s public hearing, which focused on the New Market region of the county, were back Thursday night to make the same arguments for their clients in the Urbana region. They argued the previous night that changing their clients’ zoning from pro-development to agricultural was illegal.

After the board’s vote, attorney Rand Weinberg questioned the move.

“It’s the first time in my 30 years of practicing law that I’ve seen a public commission shirk its duties,” he said. “It’s a disgrace.”

Several residents who were in attendance, however, applauded the board’s decision.

“I think you made the reasonable decision,” Monrovia resident Eric Brown said. “I think the existing comprehensive plan is good and should be followed.”

Young was not at Thursday night’s meeting. When reached by The Frederick News-Post for reaction to the planning board’s recommendation, he said, “That doesn’t surprise me. I anticipated that. We’re still going forward.”

Young said he applauded the two planning commissioners who did not vote to end the public hearings. The county commissioners will now consider the recommendation and hold public hearings of their own before making a final ruling.

In all, the rezoning could pave the way for about 17,000 additional houses, townhouses or apartments if the proposal is approved.

The 2010 plan sought to curb growth in certain areas and, in most cases, rezoned dozens of properties as agricultural to block residential or commercial development.

“It doesn’t make sense to open this process back up,” Forrence said. “If you want to open that up after just one year, I think it’s just nuts.”

By Bethany Rodgers

Frederick County commissioners Tuesday evening voted to ease portions of a law requiring builders to shoulder some financial burden for the increased traffic flow their developments would bring to area roads.Commissioners President Blaine Young said the changes would help clarify a complicated law and get rid of a few of “the ridiculous shackles put on the business community.” The requirements are part of Frederick County’s Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, a law intended to prevent growth from overburdening area roads and schools.

The changes to the ordinance passed in a 4-1 vote after a public hearing, with all board members supporting the rewrite except for Commissioner David Gray.

“I think this is a terrible mistake,” said Gray, adding that the revisions could result in less funding for improvements. “You’re going to pay a price down the road É if you don’t make the requirements for adequate roads up front.”

The changes to the APFO included allowing more medium-sized businesses to contribute a share of money for roadwork instead of requiring them to fund entire projects, said Ron Burns, county traffic engineer.

In addition, the new ordinance would exempt developers from paying for their effect on freeway ramps and from footing the bill for congestion caused by “the sins of the past,” or previous building, according to the staff report.

When working on the rewrite, Burns said county staff looked to make the ordinance more jobs-friendly.

The Frederick County Planning Commission recommended that commissioners not adopt the changes to the ordinance, Burns said.

A representative of the building community appeared before the board in support of the alterations.

As it was written, the ordinance made it “extremely difficult for some businesses to move ahead” with projects, said Chris Smariga, member of the Frederick County Land Use Council.

The new version would make the county more competitive in attracting growth while still asking developers to pay a fair share, he added.

Commissioner Paul Smith said he believed the revisions to the ordinance by and large were minor and cleared obstacles that blocked some development. Young disagreed, saying he thought the new ordinance would have a deep effect and was a large step toward providing local builders with a more straightforward set of requirements.

“I thought you had to be Houdini to figure out what all that meant,” Young said of the law before the changes. “Hopefully, this will bring some predictability and clarity to the document.”

By Bethany Rodgers

Bumper-to-bumper traffic and tax increases could arise from a current effort to rewrite the county land-use plan, leaders of two local nonprofit groups said Tuesday.Estimating that more than 10,000 acres of farmland and open space could give way to housing if rezoned or reclassified under a new comprehensive plan, the organization Friends of Frederick County predicted the result would be an influx of cars on the roads and children in schools. The current comprehensive plan, adopted last year by the previous board of commissioners, doesn’t need an overhaul and offers ample space for growth, the nonprofit representatives said.

“This has everything to do with our quality of life,” Janice Wiles, executive director of Friends of Frederick County, said of the land-use plan. “Once things are rezoned É it just changes the whole nature of our county.”

The current effort by county commissioners to revisit the comprehensive plan began earlier this year.

Commissioners President Blaine Young said he wanted the rewrite because the 2010 land-use blueprint stripped value from a number of properties through “downzoning” them, increasing limitations on development of the land. Young has said he’s looking to restore the lost value as commissioners revise the plan.

While Young has said he’s not interested in rezoning properties left untouched by recent county comprehensive plans, all landowners were free to submit requests. The county reported receiving 196 applications for new zonings and land-use designations, with concentrations in the New Market, Urbana and Frederick regions.

Friends of Frederick County’s analysis of the applications showed that granting the requests could pave the way for construction of more than 23,000 homes, possibly translating into upwards of 12,700 school-aged children.

At a meeting Tuesday morning, Wiles and Kai Hagen — a former county commissioner and leader of the nonprofit organization Envision Frederick County — said the county doesn’t have the roads or schools to accommodate growth in all of the areas under consideration for rezoning or land-use designation changes. That means officials would have to raise taxes to fund infrastructure improvements, Wiles said.

The previous board’s 20-year growth plan allowed for the construction of about 36,000 new homes, covering what state population estimates indicate the county might need for that period.

Commissioner David Gray, who was the only board member to vote against a rewrite — although Commissioner Kirby Delauter was absent for the decision — said changing the document is unnecessary and happening too quickly. The current schedule has the board adopting changes in early 2012.

“I hope we will slow down,” he said at the Tuesday meeting with Hagen and Wiles, adding that there’s no pressing need to push through the revisions.

However, in a phone interview, Young said the previous comprehensive plan snatched money from landowners.

“They think it’s OK with a stroke of a pen to take away someone’s hard work and life savings, and they don’t think they should be compensated in any way, shape or form,” Young said of those who would stick with the 2010 document.

In addition, growth will inject money into the local economy by stimulating jobs. Far from worsening the problem of funding shortages for infrastructure, development can help provide a solution by generating money from fees and taxes, Young said.

Hagen takes issue with the claim that changing the comprehensive plan will encourage job growth. Just because a new plan would benefit developers doesn’t mean it is good for the entire business community, he said.

“Developing in the wrong place is not good job-creation,” Hagen said.