A Bay Journal article (2016-07-12) reported that the Charles County Board of County Commissioners has adopted a new comprehensive plan that includes protections for the Mattawoman Creek waterway. The debate over how to handle development around the Mattawoman Creek area has been contentious both within the County and with affected stakeholder organization. From the article:

That county’s decade-old plan would have allowed development of an additional 52,000 of the 63,000 acres of the watershed in Charles County.

The new plan, approved on a 3-2 vote, allows development of only 23,000 additional acres and restricts it to one house every 10 acres. According to the new blueprint, anticipated average density would be one house for every 20 acres. …

The new comprehensive plan concentrates development close to the unincorporated city of Waldorf, the county’s most populous area, and outside the Mattawoman Creek watershed. The stream is a tributary of the Potomac River.