Growth Trends and Analysis

Tracking Residential Growth

The Maryland Department of Planning has data that illustrates important trends in growth patterns. How many houses are located inside of Priority Funding Areas - the places where growth is supposed to go - and how much land do they consume? Conversely, how many houses are located outside of Priority Funding Areas - places dedicated largely to agricultural preservation and resource conservation - and how much land do they consume? See the following links for the complete set of data, charts, and analysis.

Priority Funding Area

Since 1992 the State of Maryland has adopted a variety of Smart Growth laws and policies. Many of these laws and policies have been administered by the Maryland Department of Planning.

Land Use Mapping

The Maryland Department of Planning is a comprehensive resource for maps of current land use for every jurisdiction in Maryland. The maps were developed using a combination of aerial photography, satellite imagery, and parcel data from MdProperty View.

Generalized Zoning

In Maryland each local jurisdiction is responsible for its own zoning with the exception of municipalities. In larger, more developed jurisdictions there can be a hundred or more zoning categories. Because each county is uniquely different from the other, a system of zoning uniformity was necessary to grasp the big picture. In an effort to simplify this local zoning matter the Maryland Department of Planning has created Generalized Zoning Categories. These categories are based on the specific zoning criteria, intent of the zone, and allowable density range for each county. There are three main Generalized Zoning Categories: Resource Protection, Residential Zoning and Other. Then these three main categories are broken down even further into 12 Generalized Zoning Districts.