Growth
Task Force - 2003
Frank
Johnson, Assistant to Commissioner Gouge, contributed to this
article.
In
2003, the Growth Task Force's (GTF) was formed to bring the
broad-based community together - realtors, builders, citizens,
town representatives, community representatives (for example,
from FACC, FPAC and local PTAs), the Board of Education -
to consider Carroll County's adequate facilities provisions.
The goal was to recommend a process, including adequate facilities
standards, which would not allow growth to occur more quickly
than our ability as a County to put facilities in place and
to ensure facilities are planned where they're needed.
Many thought
this simply wasn't possible because of the task force's large
size, different viewpoints, difficult issues, and detailed
discussions. Task Force members were, however, up to the challenge,
and with staff assistance have made specific recommendations
on all of the key issues.
The first overall issue was the database. The Task Force very
quickly recommended hiring staff, as necessary, to begin the
process of accounting for past development and predicting
future development. The Task Force also advocated for an accounting
process, a "growth model," that would for the first
time account for the actual cumulative effects of growth (rather
than review each subdivision in isolation, without consideration
of past approvals).
Second, the group reviewed the adequate facilities process.
First tackled was the process of accounting for agricultural
development without breaking promises to farmers. A process
was developed that would account for all development in approving
new subdivisions. Under Concurrency Manage-ment, staff certified
the adequacy of facilities before the Planning and Zoning
Commission ever saw the plans. Presently, the Planning and
Zoning Commission has no role to play in determining adequate
facilities. The Task Force decided that this needed to change,
and that the Planning and Zoning Commission should be involved
in making a determination as to whether facilities are adequate,
in an open and public meeting. In addition, the Task Force,
with strong staff support, decided that the subdivision approval
process needed to change to allow the Department of Planning
and Zoning the ability to review plans twice (rather than
only once, as they do under Concurrency). As to facilities,
the Planning and Zoning Commission would determine adequacy
on the first review, then review that decision at the second
(final) review stage.
Finally,
the Department of Planning and Zoning reviewed the adequate
facilities standards themselves. Three separate subcommittees
of the Task Force met for several months and completed their
recommendations this past fall. The Task Force as a whole
reviewed the subcommittee reports and made final recommendations
for schools, fire and rescue, police, roads, parks and water/sewer
at the December meeting. In each case, the recommendations
were not of one extreme or another, but attempted to take
account of costs, the county's fiscal situation, and realities.
At the same time there was broad acknowledgment that standards
needed to be reviewed and in some cases upgraded to better
reflect the needs of Carroll County today.
Some of
the GTF's recommendations include:
- Adopting
the Board of Education's adequacy standards for schools.
These standards are more stringent than the 120% under Concurrency.
- Upgrading
police protection from the current 1 for 1,000 to 1.5 for
1,000, under a graduated program. Currently there are 1.2
officers per 1,000 people in Carroll County.
- Putting
in clear standards for both County and, for the first time,
State roads, along with an explicit provision allowing the
County to require developers to pay for improvements.
- Setting
a specific standard that would more meaningfully test the
fire and rescue services ability to provide emergency assistance.
Not every
vote has been unanimous but each recommendation was only made
after substantial discussion, and generally reflects the consensus
of the group. The staff has been hard at work on the task,
and at the January meeting, the GTF will, review the overall
adequate facilities provisions and hopefully make a final
recommendation to the Commissioners. The original intent was
to attempt to wrap up work by March 2004. If final recommendations
are made at the January meeting, the GTF will be two months
ahead of schedule.
For additional information about the Growth Task Force, visit
http://ccgov.carr.org/pland/growth
/index.html
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