Frustrated by slap-on-the-wrist enforcement of a state law limiting waterfront development, members of the General Assembly voted overwhelmingly four years ago to increase the maximum penalty for violations from $500 to $10,000. As one advocate said at the time, landowners and developers viewed the old fine as merely "a small cost of doing business."
It appears the cost of doing such business remains pretty small.
In 2008, here's how little things have changed: Violations of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area law rarely, if ever, result in serious fines being levied against the offenders. In case after case, total fines of less than $500 are still the rule, even in fairly serious cases.
In Anne Arundel County, for instance, actions against homeowners who have gone so far as to regrade their waterfront land without a permit, build a home too close to the water without a variance or construct a stone retaining wall in the critical area never exceeded $750 each. Total fines in those three examples from last August amount to little more than $1,450.
Add up all the violations cited in Anne Arundel during 2007 and the picture is even worse. They average about $166 apiece - doughnut and coffee money to big-time developers and builders, and probably to most of their clients, too.
Providing a sufficient deterrent against willful violations of the Critical Area law should be a top priority for any overhaul of this important land-use program. Whether Gov. Martin O'Malley's proposal before the legislature meets that standard is not entirely clear.
One good sign is that proponents are talking about setting minimum fines that might be levied each day a violation is allowed to exist. The administration bill proposes giving local jurisdictions the right to revoke a contractor's license over an infraction. The measure would also force landowners to mitigate Critical Area violations before they seek variances.
Still, the granting of such after-the-fact variances with only modest mitigation remains a problem. Exactly how they would be addressed by the bill is not yet clear. Thanks to intense lobbying by local governments, administration officials last week agreed to back down from their initial proposal to give the Critical Area Commission veto power over them. That concession might be reasonable - if the commission is given greater authority to review and comment on variance requests earlier in the process.
The bay is Maryland's most precious natural resource, but it continues in sharp decline. The 24-year-old Critical Area law has been helpful in protecting the shoreline from excess development - and the bay from polluting runoff - but it needs to be stronger.
As long as the consequences of violating the law are relatively trivial, enforcement will be difficult at best. A $100 fine is a reasonable punishment for a parking violation, but harming land that provides a vital buffer around the bay and its tributaries merits a more substantial penalty.