Shenandoah Valley, Maryland
Maryland’s Smart Growth Priority Funding Act of 1997 is famous as a ground breaking statewide growth management strategy – and because its father, Governor Paris Glendenning, is credited with coining the term “smart growth.” The Act uses the power of the purse, rather than direct regulation of development, to direct growth into designated zones by withholding most state infrastructure funding from development projects outside these growth areas.
Maryland’s approach is fundamentally voluntary because municipal and county governments need not conform their local master plans, and builders need not conform their ambitions, to the state’s designations. The Act seeks to use state infrastructure money to get development not only in the right places, but also at higher densities than much of the suburban development the state has seen. Though supported by aggressive state and county land acquisition programs, the Act’s impact on development patterns during its first decade is uncertain.
Vital Statistics:
Chapter of the Book: 16
State: MD
Year Established: 1992
Geographic Scale: Statewide
Mandatory or Voluntary over Local Government: Voluntary
Authorizing Laws: State
Agencies and Organizations:
Maryland Department of Planning
National Center for Smart Growth Research, University of Maryland
Eastern Shore Land Conservancy
Resources:
Maryland Priority Funding Areas online
Tracking Residential Growth: Priority Funding Areas (PFAs) and Residential Single-Family Development in Maryland, 1940-2009
Maryland Department of Planning GIS data sets
Selected References:
Frece, J. W. 2004. Twenty Lessons from Maryland’s Smart Growth Initiative. Vermont Journal of Environment Law 6 (3): 106–132.
Knaap, G., and E. Lewis. 2007. State Agency Spending under Maryland’s Smart Growth Areas Act. College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, University of Maryland.
Lewis, L., G. Knapp, and J. Sohn. 2009. Managing Growth with Priority Funding Areas: A Good Idea Whose Time Has Yet to Come. Journal of the American Planning Association 75 (4): 457–478.
Walls, M. 2008. Smart Growth @ 10: A Critical Examination of Maryland’s Landmark Land Use Program, Conference Report. College Park: National Center for Smart Growth Research and Education, University of Maryland.
