INTRODUCTION

On April 17, 1989 the Easton Town Council adopted a new Comprehensive Development Plan. This represented the first update to the Town's Comprehensive Plan in 15 years.

At approximately the same time, the State of Maryland was in the midst of examining it's role in local Growth Management on a coordinated state-wide basis.

The roots of this examination by the State go back to 1987, when the governors of Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia, the Mayor of Washington, D.C., the administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the chairman of the Chesapeake Bay Commission signed the Chesapeake Bay Agreement. This agreement committed the signatories to a region-wide examination of the impact of future growth in the Chesapeake watershed through the year 2020.

In December of 1988 the so called "2020 Panel" issued a report in which six widely acclaimed and accepted "Visions" were suggested to guide future growth in the Chesapeake region. These six visions were as follows:

1. Development is concentrated in suitable areas.

2. Sensitive areas are protected.

3. In rural areas, growth is directed to existing population centers and resource areas are protected.

4. Stewardship of the Bay and the land is a universal ethic.

5. Conservation of resources, including reduction in resource consumption, is practiced through the region.

6. Funding mechanisms are in place to achieve all other visions.

Following the release of these visions, Maryland's Governor Schaefer appointed a committee to report on how best to implement these visions in our state. This "Growth Commission" released a report in November of 1990 which recommended a substantially increased State role in what had traditionally been local planning and growth management decisions. The report recommended legislation that went as far as to set densities for various land uses on a state-wide basis. That is, the density of a particular land use was prescribed the same in, for example, Baltimore City or Anne Arundel County, as it was in the Town of Easton or Talbot County.

Due in part to strong opposition from local governments, this proposed legislation failed to gain passage during the 1991 session of the State Legislature. However, the Growth Commission returned to work over the summer, this time in conjunction with representatives of local government, and the result was the Maryland Economic Growth, Resource Protection, and Planning Act of 1992 which received relatively easy passage in the following Legislative Session.

This Act amended Article 66B of the Annotated Code of Maryland to require, among other things, certain new elements in local Comprehensive Plans, as well as a schedule for updating these plans (at least every six years). Thus this Plan which was adopted in 1989 is being revised again now in 1996. Also, because of the Growth Act this Comprehensive Plan will depart, in some measure, from previous Town Plans in that it will examine some issues in much greater detail than in the past. It will also focus more clearly on relationships, both between functional Plan Elements and the Land Use Plan and between the Plan for Easton and that of Talbot County.

The 1989 Comprehensive Development Plan noted that since the 1974 Easton Comprehensive Plan was adopted, a great deal of change had occurred in the Town. Growth pressures extant at that time along the Route 50 corridor and at the Town's eastern and western edges required that the Town take an active role in managing the location, timing and quality of future Town development. Strengthening plan policies and recommending implementation strategies for growth management was a priority of that update. That update succeeded in laying the groundwork for strengthening the Town's management of growth. However, the same pressures still exist today and this update must reassess the growth policies of the Town to ensure that they are still appropriate and adequate for addressing these pressures.

The Easton Comprehensive Plan establishes Town policies relative to the most desirable development patterns for Easton and environs. It identifies in both narrative and graphic form proposed areas for living and working activities and related services which are required to assure a quality environment for all residents. Implementation proposals are included as methods for coordinating public and private development activities, which together will influence Town development form and function. Attention is also given to the Town's role in the development of Talbot County.

The policies which are presented throughout this document are the result of "Envision Easton 2020", a year-long community visioning and planning process. As officially adopted policies of the Town they will serve as the basis for future decisions on annexations, capital improvements, ordinance revisions, rezoning requests, subdivision approvals and other development approval matters.

The Plan may be described as being general, long range, coordinated, and comprehensive.

To provide guidance for locating public and private land uses in a desirable development pattern, the Plan concentrates upon major development concepts but does not attempt to address every development issue in detail. The Plan reflects current Town policies toward the general location, character and extent of future development. Individual development decisions will be reviewed for their relationship to Plan policies.

The Comprehensive Plan addresses the growth and development of Easton through the year 2020. Because of its long range orientation, it is recommended that the Plan be reviewed and revised as changing circumstances dictate, or at least every six (6) years as required by the Growth Act. The long range nature of the Plan requires that projects proposed to resolve current problems or address more immediate needs should be structured to achieve consistency with long range development objectives.

The Comprehensive Plan examines the relationship and nature of the future growth of the Town to that of Talbot County and the State as a whole. It also coordinates the various functional components, such as transportation, community facilities, sensitive areas, etc., in developing the overall Land Use Plan for the Town.

The Easton Plan concentrates upon major concepts concerning essential physical elements which constitute the immediate environment of the Town. Plan recommendations are proposed in recognition of Easton's position in the central portion of the Eastern Shore of Maryland and its relationship to metropolitan areas in the Baltimore-Washington Corridor. Various economic, cultural and social factors which influence local development issues are essential considerations in formulating Plan elements.

The Town Council is responsible under Maryland law for adopting the Plan. The Town Planning Commission is responsible for general administration and enforcement of the Plan. All development proposals should be reviewed for conformance to basic policies and programs identified by the Plan.

After adoption, the Plan will serve as:

* A unified statement of desirable development policies.

* A framework within which specific development issues can be evaluated and public policy effectuated consistent with the long range growth and development goals and objectives of the Town.

* An information document for local elected officials, citizens, developers and special interest groups concerning critical development issues as well as Town development policies.

Preparation of the Easton Comprehensive Plan represents an important step in the complex process of guiding future development in the interest of the general public. Adoption of the Plan will constitute another logical step in directing the forces of development in a desirable spatial pattern. Future Planning Commission and Town Council activities will be directed towards reviewing specific development proposals, periodic revisions of the Plan in view of new conditions, broadening or narrowing the scope of the Plan as necessary, and facilitating Plan implementation in a continuing effort to improve the quality of life for all Easton residents.

Easton is a small town which offers to residents and visitors a quality of life difficult if not impossible to duplicate anywhere else in the United States. As an example, Easton is ranked as one of the ten best small towns in America and as one of the best small towns in America for the arts. It is the only small town in Maryland to appear on either list. See N. Crampton, The 100 Best Small Towns In America p. 121 (2d Ed., 1995) and J. Villani 100 Best Small Art Towns In America: Discover Creative Communities, Fresh Air and Affordable Living (3^rd Ed., 1998).

Easton derives its identity in considerable part from its rural character, its close proximity to the Chesapeake Bay, its historic Downtown area, and the historic and contemporary residential neighborhoods which are in easy walking distance of the Downtown, public facilities such as schools and parks, civic and cultural organizations such as the Academy of the Arts, the Avalon Theater, the Talbot County Historical Society and the YMCA, churches and volunteer organizations such as the Volunteer Fire Department. Easton is also one of several retailing centers for Talbot County and surrounding counties on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, as well as a location for health, professional, service and light industrial activities. To some extent these various elements of Easton’s identity complement each other and to some extent they conflict; however, it is important that various types of development be balanced and controlled as to timing, location, appearance and impact upon surrounding properties as well as the Town as a whole. Only through this process shall Easton maintain its enviable character in the future.

 The Town’s identity is subject to change for several reasons:

to some extent, the Town is a victim of its own success as its reputation for small-town charm and livability spreads, increasing numbers of new residents wish to relocate here;

improvements to US Route 50 in the 1980's (the "Reach the Beach" program) have made Easton an easy commute to the Annapolis and, to a lesser extent, the Baltimore and Washington areas;

changes in retail marketing practices have shifted retail development towards - "big box" type stores and "power centers," which pose a number of potential problems:

A. impacts on existing and proposed residential development adjacent to a proposed locations;

B. impacts on local and regional traffic in the vicinity of a proposed big box location;

C. impacts on public services such as police, fire and other emergency response teams;

D. impacts on public water and sewer services;

E. impacts on public safety, especially during severe storms and catastrophic events;

F. impacts on the natural resources of the Town, County and State;

G. potential impacts of derelict Big Box structures abandoned due to changed circumstances or financial embarrassment of the owner; and

H. impacts on the aesthetic qualities of the Town which have assured its preservation as the commercial and cultural heart of Talbot County for more than two centuries.