A new growth plan for Maryland?

Feel like growth and development in Maryland could be better thought-out and managed? The state Department of Planning intends to write a statewide growth plan over the next year and wants to hear from the public on how economic and population growth can be better balanced with protecting farmland, forests and the environment. You can read a story about the effort here that appeared in The Baltimore Sun today.

A series of 13 public forums to talk about the planning effort are being scheduled over the next three or four months. The first is to be held at Carroll Community College, 1601 Washington Road in Westminster, in the "K" building auditorium. There'll be an open house beginning at 6 p.m., with presentations, questions and discussion starting at 7 p.m. For directions, go here.

The next one after that will be in Baltimore on March 18, at Coppin State University, 2500 West North Avenue in the Talon Center.  It also will run from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.  Other forums are planned around the state. For a list, go here.  For more info on "PlanMaryland," as the effort is called, go here.

(2006 Baltimore Sun photo by David Hobby)