Every decade or so Maryland counties map how and where they want to grow, what natural resources they want to protect, how much discharge goes into water bodies, and all of the associated land use. This year is Worcester County’s year and its 2005 Comprehensive Plan is perhaps the single most important document directing the future of the county and its coastal bays.

The public hearing process, beginning this spring, will provide the best opportunity citizens have had in the past decade to make decisions about future development in Worcester County. Where do they want it? How much do they want? Should small towns be protected? Should agricultural zoning remain strong and should the county retain a rural or urban character? Where should we tolerate more wastewater inputs and how much?

Past comp plans have so far recognized that it is Worcester County’s rural character that makes us that special place to visit and distinguishes us from the other beach resorts in the general vicinity. Some who live in the more urban northern end of the county may forget that much of the county still has significant farmland and forest resources. Tourism professionals, who market the county as a unique place on the East Coast to bike, hike, canoe, fish and hunt, rely on this beauty to draw millions annually to its natural areas. They are aware that cookie-cutter subdivisions and chain stores can turn a tourism economy into “Any Place USA” in a hurry.

Worcester’s agricultural zoning is the second strongest in the state. In 1967, it was at the behest of the farming community that major subdivisions be kept out of agricultural zones. This has had the positive effect of concentrating growth, benefitting wildlife populations, and keeping Worcester’s property taxes the lowest in Maryland. This zoning has kept farmers in business, allowed for significant land conservation, and left parcel sizes large enough to help agriculture keep pace with tourism as the county’s biggest source of income.

This fall Commissioner Virgil Shockley asked a good question. He wondered if farming is the culprit that it has been made out to be, why is the Chincoteague Bay, with very little development, in so much better shape than the northern bays.

Indeed the coastal bays watershed is so small in size it is difficult to achieve the “solution by dilution” necessary for direct discharges of effluent into our bays. Land application, where row crop, trees or wetlands can uptake additional nutrients before the water gets to the bays will be another option the public can ask the commissioners for in the comp plan.

Residents can also have a say in whether the county should require regular septic system maintenance, including pump-out every three years as well as the installation of nutrient removal systems in new and replacement systems.

Upgrading water quality is necessary to protect our tourism economy, especially at the beach. The day the announcement comes that the bays are closed to fishing or bacteria has closed the beach will be a day of economic disaster for the county.

Protecting wildlife habitat for the inherent value of living things should also be an issue. Large forest tracts are falling to subdivisions as are acres of habitat formerly used by shorebirds. The comp plan could allow for protection of some of these areas.

Likewise with wildlife, people need a place to live and affordable housing should be a strong component of the comp plan. Higher densities can both help lower costs and spare open space destruction.

Special interests may work hard to undo decades of what has so far been good planning. It is up to the citizens of Worcester County to exercise their civic duty and get involved in the comprehensive plan to insure one of Maryland’s most beautiful places does not become one of its ugliest.

Carolyn Cummins is the chair of the Worcester County Planning Commission and former chair of the Coastal Bays Citizens Advisory Committee.