After many months of deliberation, the Anne Arundel County Council finally passed, and began to implement, its watershed restoration program. The program addresses stormwater runoff problems from developed areas, using an annual standard fee for residential development, and an amount based on the amount of impervious surface present for commercial development.
Unfortunately, Peter Smith, who was a supporter of the watershed restoration program, lost his seat last fall when former Councilman Darryl Jones returned to the county from his stint in prison for tax evasion charges and reclaimed the position. Councilman Jones then began to try to gut the program by introducing legislation to reduce the stormwater fee to a minimal amount for all types of development, and he was successful in reducing the fee for property owned by non-profit institutions to $1, the same as that charged for church property. Fortunately, Councilmen Benoit, Grasso, Ladd, and Trumbauer voted to maintain the integrity of the program regarding other types of property.
Despite our win at the county level, there will be an effort in this session of the State Legislature to repeal or otherwise modify last year’s State legislation that required Anne Arundel and all other large counties to implement watershed restoration programs. The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations will be fighting efforts to weaken or repeal the law.