Talbot County, Maryland

06/18/2024

Category: Public Works Planning and Zoning

On Tuesday, June 11, 2024, County Engineer, Ray Clarke, and Planning Officer, Brennan Tarleton, met with the Talbot County Council and discussed timelines for updating several planning documents for the County.

These documents are guidelines for County planning, development, and engineering.

The Report of the Review (ROTR) offers a snapshot of current and approved water and sewer policies, plans, and data in Talbot County. In addition, it identifies sections of the Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan (CWSP) that have been amended by legislative action, and updates maps, figures, etc. since the last ROTR. Once the 2024 ROTR has been completed, the Department of Public Works aims to update the ROTR every three years; the current version was last updated in 2002.

The Comprehensive Plan (Comp Plan) offers guidance for land use decision-making across Talbot County. The Department of Planning and Zoning writes and manages the Plan working with a consultant, aiming to update it every ten years. The Comp Plan was last revised in 2016.

The Comprehensive Water and Sewer Plan (CWSP) focuses on the County’s Water and Sewer capacity, planning, and development. The CWSP incorporates the previous ROTR(s), as well as data and information from the Comp Plan to create a detailed guide of policies, plans, and procedures for responsible stewardship of the County’s water and sewer systems.

All of these documents are reviewed by County staff, the Public Works Advisory Board and the Planning Commission.  Members of the public are provided with an opportunity to submit written comments and to testify at the public hearings prior to Council’s consideration of approval. The ROTR and CWSP must also be approved by the Maryland Department of the Environment.

Public Works anticipates the draft 2024 ROTR to be completed by September. Planning and Zoning expects to start work on the Comprehensive Plan shortly, with a request for proposals for project management anticipated to be issued in July. The process of updating the Comp Plan is expected to take approximately 12-18 months, with a goal of adopting the updated Plan by 2026. Following adoption of the updated Comp Plan, Public Works will resume work on the CWSP for an extensive review and final approval by Council in 2026.

The current Report of the Review (2002), Comprehensive Plan, and CWSP can be found on the Talbot County Website. More information will be available as the process of updating the Comprehensive Plan gets underway later this year.

comprehensive plan cwsp rotr planning