The Howard County Department of Planning and Zoning [1] (DPZ) manages planning and development in Howard County, Maryland, a Central Maryland jurisdiction equidistant between Baltimore, Maryland and Washington, D.C.
Land use in Howard County has evolved over time. Roughly 60 percent of land in Howard County is dedicated, protected for rural uses, with the remaining 40 percent shifting over time from suburban to focused, mixed use nodes. Affluent Howard County offsets higher infrastructure costs of low-density development with high-valued homes that generate greater property and transfer taxes. [2] [3]
The Department of Planning and Zoning provides staff and guidance to several citizen volunteer boards, including the Planning Board, [4] the Agricultural Land Preservation Board [5] the Historic District Commission, [6] the Design Advisory Panel, [7] and the Cemetery Preservation Advisory Board. [8]
The Director of the Department operates as executive secretary of the planning board with five members with five-year terms. The planning board advises on comprehensive zoning, [9] the General Plan, amendments to the zoning regulations, and conditional uses. The Board also is the design authority for most sketch plans and certain site development plans. [10]
The department recommends zoning regulations to align with the County general plan. As of 2013, the county operates 41 separate zoning classifications. A comprehensive zoning review occurs every ten years. Zoning regulations are also created and changed in "comp-lite" reviews, as well as from council bills.
Planning was managed by the state of Maryland until the First edition of Howard County Subdivision and Land Development Regulations on 7 March 1961
The Zoning Enabling Act of 1948 was formed to create a zoning board of all three County Commissioners. James MacGill was the Zoning Commissioner. Established first set of zoning ordinances. [12] [13]
Norman E. Moxley was Chairman in 1951. [14]
In 1951 the Department proposed the first county subdivision regulations. [13]
In 1954, the department created the first County Zoning Code.
In 1956 it approved the regulation of subdivisions.
In 1968, J. Hugh Nichols was a member of the Planning Commission. [22]
Marsha McLaughlin has been a planning commission from 2002 to the present. [45]
Howard County is located in the U.S. state of Maryland. As of the 2010 census, the population was 287,085. As of the 2020 census its population rose to 328,200. Its county seat is Ellicott City. Howard County is included in the Baltimore-Columbia-Towson, MD Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also part of the larger Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area.
Columbia is a census-designated place in Howard County, Maryland, United States, and is one of the principal communities of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. It is a planned community consisting of 10 self-contained villages.
Elkridge is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Howard County, Maryland, United States. The population was 15,593 at the 2010 census. Founded early in the 18th century, Elkridge is adjacent to two other counties, Anne Arundel and Baltimore.
Howard County General Hospital is a 225-bed, not-for-profit health care provider located in Columbia, Maryland.
Doughoregan Manor is a plantation house and estate located on Manor Lane west of Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. Established in the early 18th century as the seat of Maryland's prominent Carroll family, it was home to Charles Carroll, a signer of the United States Declaration of Independence, during the late 18th century. A portion of the estate, including the main house, was designated a National Historic Landmark on November 11, 1971. It remains in the Carroll family and is not open to the public.
The Howard County Public School System (HCPSS) is the school district that manages and runs the public schools of Howard County, Maryland. It operates under the supervision of an elected, eight-member Board of Education. Dr. Chao Wu is the chairman of the board. Michael J. Martirano has served as the superintendent since May 2017.
James Clark Jr. was the president of the Maryland State Senate from 1979 to 1983.
Fulton is a census-designated place located in southern Howard County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 2,049.
Transferable development rights (TDR) is a method by which developers can purchase the development rights of certain parcels within a designated "sending district" and transfer the rights to another "receiving district" to increase the density of their new development. The underlying legal concept of a transfer of development rights programme is the notion that all land has a bundle of property rights. It is used for controlling land use to complement land-use planning and zoning for more effective urban growth management and land conservation.
Woodlawn, is a historic slave plantation located at Columbia, Howard County, Maryland. It is a two-story, stuccoed stone house built in 1840 with wood frame portions constructed about 1785. It was part of a 200-acre farm divided from larger parcels patented by the Dorsey family. The design reflects the transition between the Greek Revival and Italianate architecture styles. The home is associated with Henry Howard Owings, a prominent Howard County landowner and farmer, who also served as a judge of the Orphan's Court for Howard County. Owings purchased the property in 1858 and died at Woodlawn in 1869. The former tobacco farm produced corn, oats, hay, and pork. The majority of the property surrounding Woodland and its slave quarters were subdivided by 1966 and purchased by Howard Research and Development for the planned community development Columbia, Maryland, leaving only 5 acres surrounded by multiple lots intended for development of an Oakland Ridge industrial center and equestrian center. The summer kitchen, smokehouse, corn crib and stable built about 1830 have been replaced by a parking lot.
The Middle Patuxent Environmental Area (MPEA) is a 1,021-acre (4.13 km2) wildlife area in Clarksville, Maryland and operated by the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks. It is located next to the River Hill village in the town of Columbia, Maryland, in the United States. The MPEA was created in 1996 for educational, research, and recreational purposes.
Charles E. Miller (1902–1979) was an American politician and businessman in Howard County, Maryland
The David Force Natural Resource Area is a 221-acre (89 ha) wildlife area in Ellicott City, Maryland. It is located between Route 70 and 40 adjacent to the Turf Valley development in Howard County, Maryland, and operated by the Howard County Department of Recreation and Parks.
Turf Valley is an unincorporated community in Ellicott City, Maryland, United States. The resort is situated in a wedge between Route 70 and U.S. Route 40, with the David Force Natural Resource Area along the northern border.
The Alpha Ridge Landfill is a municipal solid waste landfill located in Marriottsville, Maryland, once known as the postal town of Alpha, Maryland.
The Duvall Farm is a farm located in North Laurel, Howard County, Maryland, now the site of Coastal Sunbelt Produce.
Maple Lawn is a land development in Fulton, Maryland, United States.
Edwin Warfield III was a Maryland State Delegate from Howard County, Maryland. Warfield was born at his family manor Oakdale, where his grandfather lived as Governor of Maryland. Warfield attended the Gilman School, then graduated in 1942 from the Kent School in Connecticut. He later attended Cornell University and the University of Maryland where he earned a B.S. in Agriculture.
The Patapsco Valley is a small valley surrounding the Patapsco River in central Maryland. The region is known for its historical significance as a major economic and industrial center in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
A proposed Union Mills Reservoir represents a half century of efforts by the Commissioners of the Carroll County, Maryland, to build variations on a "dam" or "reservoir" near Union Mills, Maryland, on the Big Pipe Creek, defeated by a petition led by the Carroll County Taxpayers' Committee in the 1970s. The plan may be alive among some county officials but may also be postponed "indefinitely." Land threatened by the reservoir includes the Whittaker Chambers Farm, also known as the Pipe Creek Farm, a National Historic Landmark as well as protected under the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF).
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