News from the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy

Unprecedented Development Predicted for Eastern Shore by 2030

Eastern Shore Land Conservancy Presents County Status Report on Eastern Shore 2010 Agreement

Queenstown, Maryland June 6, 2007 - Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) released a new report today that details the state of growth on the Eastern Shore and the record growth pressure that faces the region if present trends continue. Featuring narrative by Baltimore Sun columnist Tom Horton, the report includes growth statistics from the Maryland Department of Planning that show the unprecedented growth trends facing the Eastern Shore and how these trends, if left unchecked, will affect the Eastern Shore landscape and way of life for its residents. The report also details how each of the six counties are meeting the challenges of growth and how the Eastern Shore 2010 update will help the regional effort to manage this growth to ensure the Eastern Shore maintains its unique rural heritage and quality of life

According to the report, more than 70,000 new homes are projected to be built on the Eastern Shore by 2030. This projection could result in the consumption of as much farm and forest land over the next 23 years as was consumed in the first 300 years the Shore was inhabited.

"This report really drives home the runaway development that is facing us over the next 25 years, that could irreversibly alter the Eastern Shore landscape that we know and love," said Rob Etgen, ESLC Executive Director. "Managing the growth that is headed our way is the only way to make sure that the Eastern Shore remains a unique and special place."

It was these statistics and unprecedented growth pressure that prompted ESLC to update Eastern Shore 2010, a regional land use agreement originally signed by Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot counties in 2002. Representatives from ESLC presented the updated Eastern Shore 2010 agreement to Caroline, Cecil, Dorchester, Kent, Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties earlier this year. Cecil, Kent, Caroline and Queen Anne's all voted to adopt the revised agreement. The agreement specifically proposes that local counties; provide a minimum amount of funds for land protection, implement their economic development plans supporting the farming, fishing and forestry industries, direct 80 percent of new growth to villages and towns, set a maximum annual growth rate, create a plan for workforce housing, and suggest alternatives to another Bay Bridge, including a public transportation plan.

The report includes the following findings:

• It took 300 years after Captain John Smith mapped the Chesapeake-from 1607 to 1907-for 60,000 acres of the Shore to be developed. In just the next 23 years, the Eastern Shore is projected to more than double that consumption.
• Caroline County is the only one of six counties with the currently recommended 1.5 percent budget allocation for land preservation with $1.14 million or 2.5 percent of their operating budget, allocated for land preservation;
• As exemplified by Kent County, the best indication of success in directing growth is when the percentage of growth occurring in growth areas is high, and the number of homes actually built outside the growth areas is low. In 2004, Kent led the six Shore counties with 92 percent of its growth occurring in the designated growth area;
• Last year, Cecil County rezoned about two-thirds of its 228,000 total acres from which the county estimates will eliminate 24,000 houses being built on farmland.

"While our elected officials are taking important steps toward managing growth during this critical time, this report illustrates that we need to really step up our efforts to save the Shore's farms, forests, rivers and vistas," said Etgen. "We are so honored to have Tom Horton's unique brand of narrative to illustrate the rural heritage that we stand to lose forever if these growth trends remain unchanged."

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