Policy questions are among the biggest challenges for the task force that is guiding Howard County’s Department of Planning & Zoning in the current General Plan revision process. According to county officials who spoke at an information session on the process last month, it’s not just a question of what policies need to be changed, but also a question of what policies still don’t exist.
“The county is maturing and going through an evolution of development and redevelopment,” said Jim Irvin, director of the county’s Department of Public Works.
The shift toward a redevelopment mode changes the game in terms of how infrastructure is viewed, Irvin said, particularly in terms of wastewater.
“We have enough capacity and treatment ability to handle the forecast population growth in the county, and also the commercial and industrial development,” Irvin said.
But the accommodation of unexpected development that has occurred in Elkridge and at Doughoregan Manor has required an innovative approach: designing a new policy requiring developers to pay into a fund aimed at achieving nutrient loss elsewhere to mitigate these projects’ unplanned increases.
“We anticipate using that policy for future projects and will try to find ways to spend that money wisely to get more offsets so that our [treatment] plant can continue to grow and take care of additional flow,” Irvin said.
It might help if the state established its own nutrient trading policy, he said, “but they’ve been talking about it for a number of years, and the specifics are not in place yet. That’s a difficult thing to try to forecast what we do in the next 30 years when we don’t know what the game plan is going to be.”
Troubled Water
One dilemma the county faces is the limitation of technology. “There’s really nothing on the horizon that can further reduce the concentration of wastewater nutrients [beyond current capabilities],” Irvin said.
Part of the solution may lie in a policy regarding the reuse of wastewater, he said.
“This area is not very well enamored with reuse of waste water, [so] we have to kind of push the culture around down the road in 10 years about reusing water from your own home or business,” Irvin said. “That’s probably the wave of the future, both here and in many other parts of the country.”
The sudden addition of corporate entities, such as the Dreyer’s ice cream plant, also constituted unplanned shocks to the system.
“Coca-Cola theoretically still owns property in our county,” he said. “I’m not sure how we’d accommodate a huge bottling plant having the limitations we have on our system. [W]e need to recreate offset balances as part of our effort, and be innovative and creative.”
Existing communities represent another area of concern.
“A lot of communities, particularly in the east, have a lot of age on them,” Irvin said.
Water and sewer lines can be replaced, he said, but changing lifestyles have added different demands, such as sidewalks, wider streets and the need for additional residential parking spaces.
Moreover, many of the aging homes likely will be replaced with new construction at some point in the future, and infill development creates an incongruent look and feel.
“The real issue is that we’re just replacing infrastructure, we’re not really redeveloping that community or adding amenities,” Irvin said. “The policy is going to be, ‘What do we do in these neighborhoods as they redevelop? Do we need to take an active role, a passive role, what should our priorities be?’ We’re not getting comprehensive solutions in the communities [with an ad hoc approach].”
Commercial Questions
As problematic as residential redevelopment can be, the question of commercial redevelopment may be even thornier.
“The counties were not set up from a regulatory standpoint to manage that process,” Irvin said. “When you relocate a business while you upgrade the property, you have to find a home for that business and keep it viable. I’m not so sure our current regulations address the issue.”
The abundance of small parcels along Route 1 is a particular concern, he added. “We’ve found that a lot of these developments don’t have enough property to make road crossings work, so what do we do, take money from developers and put it in a fund and wait until there’s enough to do that, or are we going to have accordion-style road improvements?”
Agricultural Planning
Agriculture represents another area where policy changes or additions will become necessary.
According to Joy Levy, administrator of the county’s Agricultural Land Preservation Program, agriculture is changing fast in places like Howard County where farming exists on the so-called urban fringe.
“After the 2000 General Plan, we changed zoning regulations to include things like value-added processing,” Levy said, enabling the sale of salsa or cheese in addition to raw products such as tomatoes or milk. “What we’re trying to figure out is … what’s out there, what’s coming on-line and what does the county need to do to keep up?”
Development in the rural west has also resulted in adjacent farming and suburban residential uses, which can cause conflicts.
“Another thing we’re looking at is the definition of commercial,” Levy said. “Commercial uses aren’t really allowed on agricultural easements, but agriculture by its nature is a commercial venture. Definitions are important in trying to determine what kinds of uses are going to be allowed.”
Presentations and additional information and resources relating to the general plan process can be found at www.planhoward.org.
