Published: October 10, 2008 11:27 pm         

Capital Queen City

Gov. O'Malley brings cabinet to Cumberland

CUMBERLAND — They might not agree on everything, but state and local planners have no problem sitting down at a lunch table to discuss their differences.

That was evident Friday as Cumberland was designated “Capital for a Day.” Maryland Department of Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall took the opportunity to share a meal, and address a few concerns by his Western Maryland colleagues, on the downtown mall.

Hall, Allegany County Planning Coordinator Phil Hager, Cumberland planner David Umling, state Department of Planning regional planner Bill Atkinson and Richard Harris, Frostburg’s director of development, talked of Gov. Martin O’Malley’s Smart Growth Task Force and the creation of the state’s first development plan.

Hager said he now understands that the development plan is “an ongoing process” that would “extend well into next year” if not beyond. During a Planning and Zoning Commission meeting Monday and in an interview Wednesday, Hager was under the impression a report by the task force due Dec. 1 to O’Malley and state lawmakers would form the framework for the plan.

Hall, however, said the report would be only “a sketch plan,” a document that stakeholders could use as a starting point in the discussion of the state development plan.

Umling said part of the problem was not with the Maryland Department of Planning but with the task force, which first met 10 months ago. He said there’s “a lot of talk going around” and there’s “no way for me to sort it out” of what’s true and what is not.

Another difference could be the intended use of the task force report, which will be distributed about six weeks before the beginning of the 2009 legislative session. Hall said he had no intention of it being a tool in any new legislation.

But local officials fear the report could have unintended consequences. It’s not uncommon for lawmakers in the eastern part of the state to take on issues that will negatively impact not their jurisdictions but Western Maryland only, including gaming and the right to hunt bears.

“We expect there to be quite a number of initiatives ... indirectly (tied) to the state development plan” next spring, Hager said. “There are things that give us cause for concern.”

Hager suggested creating a separate task force on rural growth and development, one that addresses rural-specific issues to Maryland’s western and southern regions and “one that doesn’t disproportionately impact one part of the state.”

Of all the listening sessions the task force held on the issue, none was conducted closer than Hagerstown. Garrett County Commissioner Fred Holliday has suggested a meeting be convened in Allegany and Garrett counties. Hall said he’d try and make that happen.

Unless that happens, it’s likely that rumors will continue to abound and cloud the issues, Hager and Umling said.

“Hopefully, we’re more nervous than we have to be,” Umling said.

State Sen. George Edwards told O’Malley during the morning Cabinet meeting that “land use is a local issue. It should stay this way. These decisions should be made at the local level.”

O’Malley agreed zoning “is a local issue” but that “preservation is a statewide issue.”

“What we’re trying to wrestle with … is how we more effectively manage our state so we’re smart, green and growing,” O’Malley said. “We’ve been required to have a plan (since the 1970s). We don’t really have one, which becomes frustrating when we have disagreements on land use issues. We’ll try to do a much better job outlining priority growth areas.”

“I agree with some of what you said, not everything that you said. We have open space,” Edwards said, noting the state owns more land in Allegany County than in any other.

“You have a lot of people down east saying they want to keep (the open spaces) open,” Edwards said. “We might have young people who want to build a home.”

He said land use issues should be pursued with a “one size fits all” approach and “there has to be some flexibility.”

Kevin Spradlin can be reached at Contact Kevin Spradlin at kspradlin@times-news.com.

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