What's New
After a major effort by many environmental organizations and the O'Malley administration, the General Assembly passed legislation in April to update the Critical Area Act. The new law increases enforcement and closes loopholes. Specifically, it:
- Gives the Critical Area Commission authority to update and enforce the law.
- Allows the state to revoke the licenses of builders who knowingly violate the law.
- Increases the no-build buffer zone for new subdivisions in rural areas from 100 feet to 200 feet.
- Tightens the rules for where new housing can be located.
How You Can Help
Send an e-mail to Gov. O'Malley thanking him for championing a bill to require stricter
enforcement and raise the standards for development in the bay's
buffer zones.
Brief Summary
Passed
in 1984, the Critical Areas Act is Maryland’s
first far-reaching attempt to control growth along the bay. The Critical Areas include the land within
1,000 feet of the Chesapeake and Coastal Bays or their major tributaries. The role of the Critical Areas Commission is
to minimize adverse impacts on water quality, conserve fish, wildlife, and
plant habitat, and establish land use policies for development in the Critical
Areas.
Land
use and development is a significant factor in the decline of the Chesapeake Bay. Stormwater runoff from urban and suburban
areas carries nutrient, chemical, and sediment pollution into the bay and its
tributaries. Development adds pavement and buildings where open land used to
act as a natural filters. Uncontrolled development in areas near the bay or its
tributaries directly impacts water quality through polluted runoff and the
destruction of wetlands and other buffers that would otherwise help absorb and
control pollution entering the watershed.
The
goal of the Critical Areas Act was to control and limit growth along the
bay. All lands within the buffer zone
must be designated as either Intensely Developed Areas, in which there is
already significant development; Limited Development Areas, in which moderate
development is allowed; or Resource Conservation Areas, in which no growth
should occur. The counties must preserve
at least 20 percent of the land within the buffer area as Resource Conservation Areas,
protecting vital forests and wetlands that filter pollutants out of the bays and
their tributaries.
Unfortunately,
the application of the law has fallen short of its goals. As the act is enforced at the county and city
levels, 63 different jurisdictions are involved in enforcing the law,
allowing for spotty and lax enforcement and uneven development decisions. Furthermore, through loopholes and failures
in enforcement, counties and developers have found ways to permit rampant
growth in the Critical Areas. Although the
Critical Areas Act has unquestionably had a positive impact, more needs to be
done to limit development along the shoreline.
