Second Round Listening Session: Lyric Theater - October 9, 2018

The comments below represent the statements or points of view of one or more individuals who participated in the Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) “A Better Maryland” Development Plan Listening Sessions. These comments do not represent any official position or policy of MDP or any other State agency, nor do they represent any official position or policy of any local jurisdiction or local planning agency.

Environment

Selected Topic
Sustaining the Environment into the Future

Selected Strategy
Prepare interagency tools to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental programs

Comments:

• • Can help with jurisdictions that have less resources
  • Avoid “Black Box” tools that people don’t understand how they work or trust the results
  • Be mindful to deal with the existing problems in communities, such as addressing combined sewer systems, before moving forward with new regulations and priorities
  • There will be a need for metrics to accompany the tools
    • Use existing data sources
    • No new data collection
  • Remember protecting the environment can be compatible with economic development
    • Consider developing tools that can not only measure the effectiveness of the environmental protection, but also the economic impact

Economic Development

Selected Topic
Improving Economic Growth and Development in Existing Communities

Selected Strategy
Develop state level resources and programs for leveraging investment in Maryland’s federally designated Opportunity Zones

Comments

• • Since it is new federal resource, we want to know how it is going to work in our community.
  • The approach is different than the Low-Income Tax Credit Program
  • Should be tied to local economic development priorities
  • This will be a huge change given the Census Tracts are already selected and the clock has started
    • The 15% tax credit is not likely to attract investment because clock has started and there is not enough time before that opportunity is closed
    • The 10% tax credit is not enough of an incentive
    • The 10-year investment timeframe is going to be a challenge. Investors may not be able to get money out after 10 years
  • Concerned that Western Maryland Opportunity Zones will not be able to compete with other Opportunity Zones in the Washington DC metro area or other areas of the state.
  • Need to develop rural strategies that attracts local partners who want to invest in their community and have a vested interest in community
  • Consider looking to consortiums of private funds (nationwide search) that want to invest in rural areas.

Selected Strategy
Develop targeted economic data and analysis systems

Comments

• • It would be helpful to provide information (data) to prospective businesses at the subcounty level
  • Subcounty data could help market parts of the county differently with targeted information relevant to their assets and opportunities

Community Development

Selected Topic
Creating Workforce/Affordable Housing

Selected Strategy
Work with state agencies to develop creative ways to better connect workforce development and housing development

Comments

• • Both workforce development and housing development are essential issues that need to be dealt with together
    • Educating the workforce to perform the jobs of today is critical
    • The housing stock in the area is getting old and needs attention
    • There is an opportunity to integrate these issues together through workforce training related to maintaining and improving the local housing stock
  • The challenge of attracting a quality workforce requires the housing stock to be modern (up-to-date) and affordable
  • Affordable housing is a stabilizing element in the community and helps attract a well-trained workforce
  • Programs that revitalize the existing infrastructure will also help encourage reinvestment in the local housing

Selected Topic
Creating Quality Places

Selected Strategy
Work in partnership with local jurisdictions to revitalize corridors within urban and suburban centers and towns

Comments

• • The challenge of inadequate infrastructure needs to be addressed to help revitalize the community
  • Sense of place is important
    • Recognize that our communities have cultural assets that help create a sense of place
    • Need to market these cultural resources to attract people and businesses to our community
  • Address the image / perception problem with the declining part of the town centerate) and affordable
    • Need to address the safety concerns first before you can attract people back to the downtown
    • Special events, like Friday after 5, are a good start attracting people to the downtown, but people still hesitate coming downtown due to safety concerns
    • Need to market the great things happening and available in the downtown
    • Need to promote more local ownership in the community and get people that live in the area to invest in their downtown.

Collaboration / Coordination

Selected Topic
Respecting Regional Distinctions

Selected Strategies
Evaluate state program criteria to reflect regional differences

Comments

• • The proposed increase in the minimum wage will have an impact on our community when you consider the adjacent states of West Virginia and Pennsylvania. We compete with these states for jobs and the workforce. Wages here are different than those in the Washington DC metro area
  • The PFA Law has criteria that are based on statewide residential density standards
    • The PFA residential density standards do not reflect the regional differences and community character of rural western Maryland
  • Census socioeconomic data does not reflect the realities of our area
    • The American Community Survey (ACS) Census data for rural areas has such a small sample size causing the results to vary widely from year to year
    • This impacts Low-income Tax Credit qualifications
    • The State should recognize the regional limitations (such as the volatility of ACS numbers) when establishing program criteria
    • The State should also recognize in its criteria that rural areas are under-represented in ACS sampling, and the Census numbers tend to over-represent nearby urban areas
  • Some environmental programs, like MS4 Permits, should allow exemptions for rural areas