Fowler's Patuxent River Rite Finds New Footing in St. Leonard

Former state senator Bernie Fowler (D) announced last week that beginning next year, his annual Patuxent River Wade-In will be held at Jefferson Patterson Park and Museum in St. Leonard.

"I would like to see us go on in perpetuity" without one person being the driving force, Fowler said during Gov. Martin O'Malley's (D) open Cabinet meeting at the state's Capital for a Day events in Calvert County. This year's wade-in was June 14 at Broomes Island.

Fowler, who began the annual wade-in to highlight the decline in the area's water quality, said there is "no place that you can find that is more beautiful for something like this" than the Patterson property in St. Leonard.

The governor thanked Fowler for "challenging us to do more and more" to save the river. When Fowler first began wading into the Patuxent in his youth, he said, he could see down 50 inches or more. Today the level is roughly half that.

O'Malley and other officials praised Calvert authorities for efforts to improve the environment, including oyster-replenishment programs, experimenting with natural shorelines and land preservation programs. Additionally, the county received more than $1.5 million in state grants to continue replacing failing septic systems and those near waterways with nitrogen-removing systems.

Fowler said he hopes the wade-ins and other efforts will continue "until we get that river glistening again."

Calvert Officials Question Development Law Credits

The Calvert County Board of Commissioners thinks the county's development rights ordinances might need to be fine-tuned.

The ordinances allow people who own farmland to preserve it in agricultural districts. Property owners get credits they can sell to developers who, in turn, can develop other areas of the county, such as town centers, more densely.

But county officials recently discovered that some small parcels being preserved in the county were yielding more credits, or development rights, than the law intended.

That type of loophole "undermines the intent of the board putting these [preservation programs] in place," Wilson H. Parran (D-Huntingtown), board president, said during a recent commissioners meeting.

The board asked the county attorney to determine whether it can impose a moratorium on the program until loopholes in the law are addressed.

O'Malley Launches Maryland Green Registry

Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) launched the Maryland Green Registry last week as part of the state's Smart, Green and Growing initiative.