By: Nicholas Sohr

Gov. Martin O’Malley will renew his call for a statewide growth plan Friday at the annual Maryland Association of Counties summer conference in Ocean City.

Plan Maryland, as the administration calls it, would steer population growth into already developed areas while seeking to stop the seemingly-endless rings of suburbs radiating out from the state’s urban centers into forests and farmlands.

O’Malley will be armed with a new map and new statistics. The land-use map, updated for the first time since 2002, shows 128,650 acres of land were developed in the state over those nine years, according to the state Department of Planning. That’s good for 8.4 percent growth, or about twice as fast as the state has added population during that time.

“The need for a state growth plan is made evident by the latest analysis,” said Planning Secretary Richard E. Hall. “The data shows that Maryland has now developed more than 1.6 million acres, or about 27 percent of the total land area, in total.”

A 1973 survey showed only 654,000 acres were developed, or just 11 percent of the state’s land area.

Without Plan Maryland, state officials say, 550,000 more acres would be developed by 2030. With the plan in place, that figure would shrink to 180,000.

The plan would direct funding for economic development and infrastructure like sewers and highways to developed areas. State offices looking for new homes would be limited to these areas. Concentrated growth would allow governments to target resources and services and could decongest the already very congested roads by making public transportation a more viable option than it is now.

Developers have had mixed reactions to Plan Maryland. It would make more predictable government spending on infrastructure crucial to their new projects. But, it could also complicate development projects if county governments don’t buy in and stick to their own land-use plans.

The planning department is gathering public comments on Plan Maryland until Sept. 1 and will later present the plan to the governor.