NATIONAL
ESTUARY
PROGRAM
SMART GROWTH
The rapid development that has taken place in and around Ocean City, Maryland, over the last several decades made Worcester County the state's most
rapidly growing coastal region. With more people expected and demands for development on the horizon, the County was faced with two major issues: how
should the County prepare for growth, and where should that growth occur?
THE NATIONAL ESTUARY PROGRAM IN ACTION
Maryland Coastal Bays Program
Beginning in 2004, using EPA
grant funding, the Maryland
Coastal Bays Program (MCBP)
brought scores of builders,
county planners, architects, en-
gineers, and other stakeholders
to the table, a collaboration that
enabled the MCBP to create a vi-
able plan that would replace
years-old planning and zoning
laws with ones that mandate
low-impact development (LID)
elements into any future building
projects. Officially adopted by
the Worcester County Commis-
sioners in March 2006, the
County's new Comprehensive
Plan for smart growth will intro-
duce greener development pro-
cesses across 3,300 acres over
the next 20 years—it will also
help preserve 20,000 acres by
pushing growth away from the
forests, wetlands, and flood-
prone areas and into and around
existing infrastructure absent of
hazardous and sensitive areas.
During the initial planning stag-
es, all municipalities within
Worcester County played an in-
tegral role in developing the new
design with concerted efforts to
stay focused on what would be
best for the County as a whole in
order to meet smart growth ob-
jectives. Numerous speakers
groups, public meetings, and
workshops kept everyone on the
same page and MCBP also de-
veloped a course to teach real
estate professionals about the
environmental impacts of vari-
ous types of development. In the
field, individual analyses of each
of the eight watersheds in the
County were conducted to help
determine how growth should
be directed away from sensitive
areas and toward marginal agri-
cultural land adjacent to existing
towns. Nutrient reduction efforts
and Total Maximum Daily Load
implementation were also incor-
porated into the plan and infor-
mation was shared with state
officials during presentations—
an effort that has expanded and
enabled MCBP to work with
neighboring counties in Dela-
ware and Virginia to examine
their watershed planning. Soon,
Worcester's outmoded zoning
ordinances — now attached to
EFFECTIVE
EFFICIENT
ADAPTIVE
COLLABORATIVE
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large lot zones—were terminat-
ed and found inconsistent with
the Plan's eye toward greener
development—allowing just
enough growth (2,700 acres per
parcel) to accommodate the es-
timated 18,000 people who are
expected to move into the Coun-
ty over the next decade. To help
residents understand the impor-
tance of changing zoning laws
and the benefit they have toward
preserving the region's charac-
ter and environmental integrity,
the MCBP launched a $20,000
public education campaign. Di-
visiveness in communities is of-
ten the unfortunate result of dis-
cussions about growth and
development. Maryland Coastal
Bays, however, successfully
brought opposing views to the
table through the NEP gover-
nance plan in order to protect
the bays and waters where
freshwater meets the sea in
coastal Maryland. The product of
this collaborative effort, the
Worcester County Comprehen-
sive Plan, not only is an impor-
tant model for watersheds across
the country, but has won an
American Planning Association
award.
Vsit www.mdcoastalbays.org
to learn more about this and
other MCBP efforts.
EPA's National Estuary Program
(NEP) is a unique and successful
coastal watershed-based program
established in 1987 under the
Clean Water Act Amendments.
The NEP involves the public and
collaborates with partners to pro-
tect, restore, and maintain the wa-
ter quality and ecological integrity
of 28 estuaries of national signifi-
cance located in 18 coastal states
and Puerto Rico.
For more information about the
NEP go to www.epa.gov/owow/
estuaries.
The NEP: Implementing the Clean Water Act in ways that are Effective, Efficient, Adaptive, and Collaborative.
EPA-842F09001
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