In appointing former Harford County Executive David Craig to head Maryland's planning department last week, Gov.-elect Larry Hogan acknowledged he's sensitive to criticism of anti-sprawl policies collectively known as "smart growth." He promised to "take a look at" the complaints of local governments that the state has usurped authority in planning and zoning decisions.
And while we do not oppose "taking a look" at anything involving state government, particularly when a new governor takes office, it's also easy to understand the worries of the environmental community who see the potential for a full-scale retreat. Messrs. Hogan and Craig seem to share a similar fundamental approach to matters involving the Chesapeake Bay — talk boldly about how much you love and appreciate it, but when it comes to the tough choices regarding polluters and pollution, point the finger at somebody from outside the state.
In Maryland, smart growth policies started under Gov. Parris Glendening and were strengthened under Gov. Martin O'Malley in large measure because development threatens to consume more than 560,000 acres between now and 2035. Smart growth rules do not tell local governments how to conduct matters of planning and zoning. They don't decide who gets to build what and where.
What smart growth really does is make sure state tax dollars are not spent wastefully to support destructive pro-sprawl decisions. Want to let developers run rampant in your county, tearing up green space and fouling the land and water? Fine, but don't expect the state to build roads and bridges, extend water pipes or sewer lines or otherwise support or accommodate that decision.
This isn't about right-wing or left-wing politics. It isn't just about the environment for that matter. It's about rational and sustainable growth policies. Considering how costly it is to address the flow of pollution into the Chesapeake and its tributaries, why would the state of Maryland spend money to make matters worse and thereby more costly? If Mr. Hogan thinks the fee imposed on property owners to reduce pollution from stormwater runoff (also known as the "rain tax") is egregious, then how can he possibly justify creating more stormwater pollution by encouraging sprawl development?
Here's another misplaced criticism of smart growth — that it's anti-growth. Not true. Actually, it's pro-rational-growth. Redeveloping Maryland's urban centers is an avowed priority for the Hogan administration. It's a task made much easier if developers are encouraged to build on "brownfields" and similar sites already served by roads and transit, water and sewer lines, schools and other infrastructure. That's primarily what smart growth attempts to do, and not just for cities but smaller communities, too.
It's no surprise that some politicians, especially those in rural counties, guard fiercely their power to make land use decisions. Developers have a big say in local politics, and they can be generous around election time. Elected officials can always rationalize: "This is just one building or one subdivision or one shopping center, so what's the harm?" But when governing councils, commissioners, county executives and others make such choices, the impact can be dramatic.
Mr. Hogan, a real estate developer himself, should understand that in seeking to appease developers and rural elected leaders, he is playing with political fire. Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. weakened and ignored smart growth policies, too. It may have made him popular in certain backrooms on the Eastern Shore and in Western Maryland, but it didn't get him a second term. Mr. Hogan was elected promising to shrink government, reduce taxes and encourage job growth, not by threatening the health of the Chesapeake Bay. As a candidate for governor last year, Mr. Craig endorsed eliminating the 1984 Chesapeake Bay Critical Area law, a popular state program that requires a "buffer strip" of green space near the waterfront, and blamed bay pollution mostly on the Conowingo Dam. What did that get him? A distant second place finish in the GOP primary.
The reality is that smart growth, if administered correctly, is good for Maryland's economy. It makes the state a better place to live, allows tax dollars to be spent more efficiently and encourages redevelopment of blighted communities. Saying yes to every development to roll down the pike might sound like a way to create jobs, but it's actually quite destructive in the long term.
Mr. Hogan hasn't taken the oath of office yet. Perhaps, on reflection, he'll seek a more moderate course than to trash a program that, if anything, deserves to be strengthened. But at the very least, he needs to stop digging himself in a political hole in matters involving the environment. To our knowledge, voters aren't concerned that the Chesapeake Bay — the overall health of which was recently judged a D-plus in the Chesapeake Bay Foundation's biennial report card — is excessively clean or too well protected.