Carroll County Commissioners Ask Gov. O'Malley for More Time to Review PlanMaryland

The Carroll County Commissioners have asked Gov. Martin O'Malley for an extension on PlanMaryland, the unified state planning document with a deadline of Sept. 1.

In an open session Tuesday, the board voted unanimously to adopt a resolution to defer the county's submission of the planning document to the state for a year, according to a county government press release. 

The decision was made, according to the release, "so that all jurisdictions can analyze this plan to their reasonable satisfaction, all necessary discussions between the state and local jurisdictions can be completed and a majority of the counties support the final product." 

O’Malley has not publicly issued a decision on giving the county an extension. 

In absence of an extension, the deadline for public input is Sept. 1. 

PlanMaryland was a topic of debate at the annual Maryland Association of Counties conference in Ocean City where some leaders of the state's 23 counties said it is another attempt by the state to diminish local land use authority, according to on Patch. 

At the conference, Commissioner Doug Howard, District 5, asked  O'Malley, "Why the rush? This is a fundamental issue of property rights." 

"This is not going to prevent the counties from making stupid land use decisions," O'Malley . "They're still free to do that. We're not going to subsidize it." 

Using the maps in PlanMaryland to decide what projects the state will help fund could help in saving the state as much as $1.5 billion annually, O'Malley said.

On Aug. 29 at 6:30 p.m. the Carroll County Commissioners will host Secretary of Planning Richard Hall in an open PlanMaryland forum at Carroll Community College.