It has the support of the County Commissioners & the Maryland Rural Counties Coalition.
Most of the Frederick County Commissioners have very little good to say about Governor Martin O'Malley, but Tuesday they gave him credit for signing a bill which clarifies PlanMaryland. The "Department of Planning--State Development Plan--Use and Conflicts of Law" says the state's document will not be used to establish a new cause for state denial of projects and permits, and to deny funding.
In addition, there's also a process put in place to resolve conflicts between "PlanMaryland" and local governments concerning growth, preservation or other issues. And the Maryland Department of Planning and local planning agencies will meet in good faith to try to settle any disputes. If the conflict is not resolved, the local comprehensive plan, zoning laws and local land use ordinances will prevail.
This bill was the number-one priority for the Frederick County Commissioners and the Maryland Rural Counties Coalition. "The bills signed into law were an essential guarantee to local land use automony," said Commissioners' President Blaine Young, in a statement. "I am pleased that the 2012 General Assembly supported the elected leadership of Frederick, Alleghany, Washington, Carroll and Cecil Counties, {and} were able to de-fang what would have been an unprecedented usurpation of local authority."
The Governor also affixed his signature to other Frederick County bills on Tuesday. One would grant a tax credit to small businesses so they can create new jobs. Currently, the credits are only available to encourage the creation of larger businesses. "Given that most new jobs created in America are in small businesses, the board sought enabling legislation to establish a small business job creation tax credit," says Commissioner Billy Shreve, in a statement. The bill was amended to include Washington County.
The state's chief executive also signed a bill to clarify workers compensation for police officers and fire fighters. It covers fire-police who are acting on the behalf of the Sheriff's Office or a municipal police agency.
A third bill deals with the County's budgetary process.
On April 10th, the governor also put his signature on Frederick County legislation dealing with public facilities bonds and tax sales auctioneer fees.
In all, the Commissioners submitted 11 bills during the 2012 General Assembly. Five passed and were signed into law.
