Issue: Growth Management and Land Use

"We don’t have to sacrifice what we love about where we live." – Kai Hagen

When I first I ran for county commissioner, one of the major issues in the campaign was growth (planning and development) in Frederick County. Throughout the county, many people were concerned about rapid, poorly planned and sprawling development that was outstripping the county’s ability to provide the necessary infrastructure, contributing to worsening traffic congestion, overcrowding schools, and exacerbating a long list of other problems, small and large, from the shortage of athletic fields to the prospect of higher taxes.

While the problems were widespread, the 2006 New Market Region Plan, approved by the previous board, was such an egregious example of an inadequate public process and out-of-control, sprawling and costly growth that citizens said enough is enough! During the election campaign that followed the plan’s approval, I said that if I was elected, along with at least two other commissioners that were also willing, we would immediately revisit and rewrite the New Market Region Plan. Voters agreed, and one of the first major endeavors of this board was to follow through on that commitment – taking more than a year to re-write the plan in a manner that reflected proper process, sound planning and smart growth principles. Part of that meant treating public infrastructure and our “green infrastructure” as if they mattered.

Beginning in early 2008, the current board embarked on a major update and re-write of the Frederick County Comprehensive Plan. It took more than two years, and hundreds of meetings and hearings, but the new Comprehensive Plan provides an outstanding roadmap for the county, accommodating state population projections and business growth for the next two decades while pulling back on sprawl, addressing infrastructure much more responsibly, incorporating a range of important environmental concerns, preserving agricultural areas and rural communities, and much more. Faster residential growth will not lower taxes, decrease traffic or improve services. With the new plan, growth is carefully targeted for the right places. We cannot afford to go back to a county government by the developers, for the developers that will overturn this plan.

[Much MORE Information, links and maps for this item to be added soon]