Confine Growth to Urban Areas, Residents Urge

Report Supports Saving Farmland

One of the workshops leading to the "Reality Checks Plus" report was in June for Southern Maryland leaders. From left, Karen Edgecombe, George Leah and Dawn Tucker ponder choices. (By James A. Parcell -- The Washington Post)

If Maryland's population has to grow, say hundreds of state residents, let it happen inside the Baltimore and Washington beltways.

Their advice is given in a report, "Reality Checks Plus," that came out of recent workshops on growth. The elected officials and residents who participated favored preserving rural and agricultural land in the face of an expected population increase in the next 25 years by steering development to urban areas.

The workshops attracted 850 participants across the state in the spring and summer. The report, released last month, concludes that Marylanders want to place more growth inside the two beltways than is now forecast by regional planners or allowed by zoning laws.

Participants questioned whether the state could sustain the projected population growth and development without damaging the environment or increasing taxpayers' costs for roads, schools and other services.

To prevent these problems, the report concludes, Marylanders want more jobs closer to regional transit stations and within urban areas than is projected.

The study was sponsored by a privately funded statewide coalition of "smart growth" and land preservation advocates.

The workshops were in St. Mary's City, the Eastern Shore, Western Maryland and Baltimore. They brought together elected officials, planners, home builders, farmers, developers and civic, business and environmental leaders. The participants stood around large tabletop maps and stacked Lego-style plastic blocks where they believed jobs and residential growth should go.

"The exercises themselves served as a good steppingstone for raising awareness," said Jason K. Sartori of Integrated Planning Consultants LLC. "But what came out of that was there's a discrepancy between where these people believe growth should occur and where the trends and projections are expected."

This election season, candidates for local and state office have been debating growth and development. Maryland, the nation's fifth most densely populated state, has 5.5 million people, and the U.S. Census Bureau estimates that figure will grow to 7 million by 2030. This means 580,000 households and 810,000 jobs would locate in Maryland over that period, according to the report.

Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of the advocacy group 1000 Friends of Maryland and a co-chairman of the coalition that produced the report, said participants realized that growth can benefit their communities if it is well planned.

"Today, there's universal understanding that growth can be good, but it can also be really bad," Schmidt-Perkins said. "It's the decisions that are made by your elected officials that determine whether it's going to be an asset or a detriment to your community."

About 42 percent of the households and 45 percent of the jobs in populous central Maryland are inside the Washington and Baltimore beltways, according to the report. By 2030, those percentages are projected to drop to 37 and 39 percent, respectively. But the Reality Checks Plus report concludes that Marylanders would prefer these figures remain about steady at 41 percent and 44 percent in 2030.

Similarly, the report found that central Marylanders want to increase the percentage of households and jobs near mass transit. About one-third of households and nearly one-half of jobs are within one mile of rail transit stations.

With the workshops and report completed, organizers are planning additional research on growth scenarios, more education for leaders on development issues, and policy recommendations for lobbying at the state and local levels.

"We now have to get real meaningful consensus on a greater level of detail," said Bryce Turner, chairman of the Urban Land Institute's Baltimore District Council and a co-chairman of the coalition.

Turner said it will be difficult to implement the report's recommendations.

"It requires more than just political will at this point," Turner said. "It requires in-depth study and analysis of these things to ensure that we get the right results."