Anne Arundel County has started the process to update the General Development Plan. The General Development Plan (aka Plan 2040) is the vision for what Anne Arundel County should become. It sets the groundwork for future decisions on land use and zoning - where new homes and businesses go - that have an enormous impact on local and regional water quality. We want to make sure that the plan addresses improved transportation, protection of the environment, and sustainable development.
Anne Arundel County has a lot of shoreline, along streams, along rivers, and along the Chesapeake Bay. Sprawl development increases problems with stormwater runoff, which is a major and rising source water pollution in the County. The Plan can limit future sprawl.
The County has set a schedule of eight “listening sessions” to learn from YOU what you want the future of Anne Arundel County to look like. Your attendance at one or all of these sessions allows you to have direct input into the plan.
The County also plans to use online surveys to encourage citizen input and is expected to synchronize release of the surveys with the scheduling of the listening sessions. The surveys are an easy way to provide additional input to the County about your vision for the future. Two surveys for the Parole area have already been released and can be accessed here.
We’d like to highlight that Anne Arundel County already has 16 small area plans which were quite detailed and were created through extensive work groups. Find the plan for your area here. You may want to familiarize yourself with what was already planned, and what you would like to see implemented in the future!
Read more about Plan 2040 here.
The Listening Sessions will be 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM:
- September 25: North County High School
- October 17: Broadneck High School*
- November 30: Old Mill High School*
- December 11: Arundel High School*
- January 11, 2018: Annapolis High School*
- January 29: Northeast High School*
- February 8: Southern High School*
- February 22: Brooklyn Park Middle School*
*dates and locations subject to change, please check the county website!
After the plan is put in place, the crucial next step is implementation – making sure that the policy changes that the plan calls for are put into enforceable law. As you become engaged with shaping the future of Anne Arundel County, see the new plan as a crucial first step. We need continued voices from Anne Arundel residents to make sure that this new plan doesn’t sit on a shelf, but it becomes fact.
A good plan leads to good policy which leads to good law which leads to good living. That will not happen without your input, without your voice.
