If land preservation is a goal of the Comprehensive Plan, why has there been a moratorium on Agricultural Preservation Districts since 2013?
At the time, the county was experiencing the continuation of the economic downturn with very little movement of the Transferrable Development Rights (TDRs) designed to preserve farmland and move development to town centers. Continuing to add additional Agricultural Preservation Districts would simply flood the existing surplus of TDRs currently on the market. Changes to allow for the movement of TDRs were designed to encourage the use of TDRs in Prince Frederick, Solomons and Lusby. The moratorium was a joint decision in which the Agricultural Preservation Advisory Board played a major role and considered input from farmers, builders, developers, foresters and various planning staff.

Before lifting the moratorium, a detailed audit of the TDRs already existing had to occur. This type of audit had not been conducted in the 40-year history of the program. An electronic auditing program is nearing completion, which will be used when developing recommendations to reopen the Agricultural Preservation District program for future preservation. Meanwhile, other land preservation practices have been added over the years and remain in place.

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1. What is a Comprehensive Plan?
2. What is a Zoning Ordinance?
3. Who is involved in updating the Calvert County Comprehensive Plan?
4. What does a Comprehensive Plan do?
5. Why is a Comprehensive Plan needed?
6. Why are we updating ours now?
7. How does the Zoning Ordinance relate to the Comprehensive Plan?
8. What is the timeline?
9. How will the public be involved?
10. What is Calvert County's history with Comprehensive Plans?
11. Whom should I contact for more information?
12. Does the Comprehensive Plan draft call for expanded town centers? Why?
13. Is the Prince Frederick Town Center to be significantly expanded? Why?
14. Is it true that traffic in Prince Frederick is projected to reach 83,500 trips per day by 2030?
15. Is it true the draft Comprehensive Plan ignores Maryland Department of Transportation studies predicting future transportation impacts in Prince Frederick even before its proposed expansion?
16. Shouldn’t studies be conducted on local traffic before any town centers are expanded?
17. Why does the draft Comprehensive Plan designate Dunkirk as a “major town center?”
18. If land preservation is a goal of the Comprehensive Plan, why has there been a moratorium on Agricultural Preservation Districts since 2013?
19. Why has land preservation slowed in Calvert County?
20. Is it true the draft Comprehensive Plan has no recommendations to improve the county’s effort to preserve 40,000 acres of farm and forest land?
21. Is it true the Board of County Commissioners members seized the Comprehensive Plan process from the Calvert County Planning Commission by hiring a consultant of their choice?
22. Is it true the Board of County Commissioners rushed through the Comprehensive Plan process two years prior to the 10-year review deadline?
23. Did the Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) stop the 1989 Prince Frederick Master Plan Update Prior to the Election of 2014?
24. Did the BOCC adopt piecemeal changes, disregarding the Prince Frederick Master Plan?
25. Did the BOCC change requirements for developers when building apartments/townhomes in town centers?
26. In Prince Frederick, did the BOCC reduce setbacks, increase the number of dwellings allowed per acre (14 to 24), increase big box store size and increase building height to 6 stories?
27. Did the BOCC adopt regulations allowing big box and restaurants to have signs taller than local businesses?
28. Did the BOCC attempt to eliminate Architectural Review Committees (ARCs) and weaken regulations to favor chains and weaken ARC authority?
29. Did the BOCC gut sign regulations and weaken regulations to allow sign proliferation?
30. Did the BOCC remove architectural standards for signs?
31. Did the Board of County Commissioners adopt term limits for the Planning Commission and other boards?
32. Did Board of County Commissioners members exempt themselves from term limits?