Opinion ID: 2056507
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: The 2000 Biennial Plan

Text: The Prince George's County Council [15] created Commission 2000, a 53-member, broad-based advisory community panel with a charge to recommend a comprehensive growth management plan for Prince George's County and a strategy to achieve it. Commission 2000, Biennial Growth Policy Plan: Final Report 1 (2000) (the Biennial Plan); see also Prince George's County, Md., No. CR-62-1998 (resolution adopted [f]or the purpose of establishing a broad-based public panel representing all segments of the County to work with the Prince George's County Council, County Executive, Planning Board and Planning Department of the M-NCPPC to (1) prepare a Biennial Growth Management Plan. . . .), [16] , [17] Commission 2000's fundamental recommendation was the creation of a heretofore new concept of identifying growth tiers . . . to guide future land use and development in Prince George's County. Id. The three tiers encompass the developed, developing and rural areas of the County. Id. The District Council approved the Biennial Growth Policy Plan (the Biennial Plan) on 24 October 2000, with amendments not relevant here. See Prince George's County, Md., CB-80-2000 (24 October 2000). One of the goals and objectives of the Biennial Plan is to [p]reserve rural, agricultural and scenic areas so that Prince George's County will retain a rural area in addition to urban and suburban environments by protecting rural character, preserving rural lands and retaining viable operations in rural areas. Id. at 9. Additionally, scenic areas will be identified and protected throughout the County. Id. A priority of the Plan is farmland preservation. The Plan states that the County will facilitate the long-term retention of viable agricultural operations and avoid inappropriate development of rural lands. Non-farm development in rural areas will avoid infringement. Id. at 11. The Biennial Plan established growth objectives to achieve these objectives and priorities. With regard to the Rural Tier, the objective was to [s]low dwelling unit growth . . . to 0.75 percent of total Countywide dwelling unit growth over the next 20 years. Id. at 12. The Biennial Plan also lists several reasons, ranked in order of importance, why rural areas are important to the County: Provision of open space, Environmental protection, Agricultural land retention, Rural character preservation, Equity for property owners, Support for viable agricultural operations, Infrastructure/service cost control, Supporting compact urban growth, [and] Residential growth. Id. at 22.