WINTER NORTH COUNTY INSTITUTE

First Session - Wednesday, January 24, 2007

The first session of the spring North County Institute convened on January 24.  Dan Rosen of the Maryland Department of Planning, the staff officer with responsibility for land preservation, led a discussion of how to analyze property for appropriate zoning for optimal land preservation.  (Note that Rich Hall, the Secretary of Planning, was scheduled to lead this discussion, but he was detained in Annapolis testifying on the impact of BRAC (military base closing) on Maryland.  Rich has been invited to come in May.)

Dan came with great “show and tell.”  He had drawn on the extensive GIS capability of the Department of Planning and had prepared a number of maps of Baltimore County showing zoning, density, natural resources, and, most interestingly, a map showing the extent of subdivision on rural land if all potential lots (zoning minus environmental constraints, preserved land, etc.).  This last map—a worst case scenario--was sobering in terms of the amount of development on the books. (This is consistent with the presentation by Bill Hughey and his Baltimore County Planning colleague last fall and last spring.) 

Dan has said that the State Planning Department has the capability to create maps with a range of different overlays testing various assumptions and articulating the impact of different zoning scenarios. 

In addition to his maps, Dan shared the Land Evaluation Site Assessment System (LESA) evaluation form used in Baltimore County to allocate state funds for conservation easements. This form, which assigns points for various land characteristics, is a useful summary of criteria to evaluate the strategic importance of land in relation to other properties to enhance preservation.  The same criteria could guide assessment of proper zoning for parcels in rural areas.  It stands to reason that if a property ranks high for preservation by easement, it also deserves protection through zoning.

The LESA form and criteria emphasize the interconnectedness of land use decisions.  Dan stressed the importance of identifying the contribution a zoning change can make to build on and support earlier downzoning and  state investments in conservation easements.  Strategic additional zoning changes can increase the return on earlier investment.  Return on incremental additional zoning changes is a useful analytical concept for assessing zoning changes.

Dan also emphasized the critical role that renewal of existing housing and commercial stock can make to rural land preservation. He used the example of renovating existing shopping centers to create mixed-use areas with stores, offices, and residences.  The Parole Mall redevelopment in Annapolis, the development of a town center on the parking lots of the Owings Mills metro station, and  potential in-fill of the Hunt Valley Town Centre parking lots in Hunt Valley are three examples.  He said that large open parking lots at underperforming malls and shopping centers are terribly wasteful expanses of impervious surfaces.  Building higher rise mixed use buildings using air space makes good use of land where there is already infrastructure.  Part of the strategy of preserving rural land is making the best use of development inside the Baltimore County URDL. 

At the end of Dan’s presentation, we agreed to encourage community associations to work though the North County CZMP Technical Planning Committee to draw on the resources of the Maryland Department of Planning. Renae Olver volunteered (or responded to nomination) to aggregate map requests and be the contact person working with Dan.  Please send requests for assistance and suggestions for information that would be useful to the community in CZMP to her at rolver1@hotmail.com.

View the 2006 North County Institute report.