As previously reported by Conduit Street, Charles County has formed a stakeholders work group make recommendations regarding the County’s comprehensive plan and propose a septic tier map.  A March 11 SoMdNews.com article reported that the County commissioners voted 3-2 to reject the septic map proposed by the work group and instead adopted an alternate proposal that would classify half of a deferred development district that includes Waldorf and Bryans Road as an area designated for future sewer service.  From the article:

Charles County Environmental Program Manager Charles Rice presented the [work group’s] map proposal to the commissioners alongside Director of Planning and Growth Management Peter Aluotto and Planning Director Steve Ball. …

Rice said the large deferred development district, which technically is planned for future sewer, could have been placed in Tier II but was put in Tier IV because none of it has been released for development. He also noted that half of the deferred development district already is protected lands.

The article stated that after some debate by the commissioners, there was a short break and the staff returned with a new map that placed half of the deferred development in Tier II while keeping the Mattawoman Creek watershed area in Tier IV.  This was the map that the commissioners adopted.

The approved map essentially shifts 9,000 acres of the deferred development district out of Tier IV, which is reserved for forest and resource conservation, and into Tier II, where future sewer service is planned. …

“We feel this meets the intent of the septic bill,” Rice said.

Having just seen the new map, Maryland Department of Planning Secretary Rich Hall said he was unable to determine whether it was legal.