The Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) is a cabinet-level agency in the government of the State of
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. The department is part of the Executive branch of the government and reports to the
Governor of Maryland
The Governor of the State of Maryland is the head of government of Maryland, and is the commander-in-chief of the state's National Guard units. The Governor is the highest-ranking official in the state and has a broad range of appointive powers ...
.
The Maryland Department of Planning works with State and local government agencies to ensure comprehensive and integrated planning for the best use of Maryland's land and other resources. To local governments, the Department provides technical expertise, such as surveys,
land use
Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...
studies, and urban renewal plans. Also, the Department compiles data on the State for use in planning, including congressional
redistricting. Implementing State planning and
smart growth
Smart growth is an urban planning and transportation theory that concentrates growth in compact walkable urban centers to avoid sprawl. It also advocates compact, transit-oriented, walkable, bicycle-friendly land use, including neighborhood sc ...
policies also is the responsibility of the Department of Planning.
Background
The history of State land use planning in Maryland goes back further than that of most states in the U.S. Although
Maryland is 42nd among the 50 states in size (9,843.62 sq. miles), it is 19th in population (5,633,597) and ranks fifth in population density (580 per sq. mile).
As a result, the pressure to use Maryland’s land for a wide range of uses has been intense and ongoing – as has concern for the impact and location of those uses. The issues of uncontrolled growth, premature rural subdivision, loss of productive soils, strip growth, loss of forest land, loss of Bay fisheries, loss of public Bay access, the need to plan for infrastructure and other capital improvements and the need to acquire forest land and set goals for agricultural land preservation have been troubling state planning officials since the late 1930s! This according to the report of the State Planning Commission, entitle
''Five Years of State Planning'' published in 1938.
The Department of Planning started out as the State Planning Commission in 1933, the first of its kind in the U.S. The commission was created to coordinate Depression-era public works programs of the National Resources Planning Board and the Works Projects Administration (WPA). Governor Albert C. Ritchie appointed the first five members. Dr. Abel Wolman served as chairman, with other members from the State Department of Health, Board of State Aid and Charities, State Roads Commission, and one member at-large.
History
The Maryland Department of Planning began in 1933 as the State Planning Commission. When the State Planning Department formed in 1959, the Commission became part of the new department. In 1969, the Department reorganized as the Maryland Department of State Planning. The Department was restructured in 1989 to become the Maryland Office of Planning
.
Effective July 1, 2000, the Maryland Office of Planning was renamed the Maryland Department of Planning and became a cabinet-level agency. The Department is the principal staff agency for land use planning matters concerned with the resources and development of the State.
In July 2005, th
transferred to the Department of Planning from the Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD). The transfer of DHCP to MDP added th
(Maryland's State Historic Preservation Office, or SHPO), th
and th
(preserving Maryland's African American heritage). The Banneker-Douglass Museum was transferred to th
in 2007.
In 2007, the Department organized to oversee three main functions
and Historical and Cultural Programs.
In 2015, the Department re-organized into three main functions: Operations; Planning Services; and Historical and Cultural Programs. (Se
Agency heads
:1933 Dr. Abel Wolman, First Chairman of the Maryland State Planning Commission
:1942: I. Alvin Pasarew, Director, Maryland State Planning Commission
:1959: James J. O'Donnell, Secretary, Maryland State Planning Department
:1969: Vladimir A. Wahbe, Secretary, Maryland Department of State Planning
:1979:
Secretary, Maryland Department of State Planning
:1989: Ronald Kreitner, Director, Maryland Office of Planning
:2000:
Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2001:
Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2003:
Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2007:
AICP, Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2015:
Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2016:
Acting Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2017:
Esq., Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2022: Sandy Schrader, Acting Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
:2023: Rebecca L. Flora, AICP , Secretary, Maryland Department of Planning
Sources
Maryland Manual On-Line: A Guide to Maryland Government, Copyright September 18, 2009 Maryland State Archives (http://www.msa.md.gov/); ''See'
References
External links
Maryland Department of Planning's website
63 Years of State Planning 1959-2022
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