LAND USE AND GROWTH

INTRODUCTION

During the historical development of Planning in the United States, the scope of what a Comprehensive Plan encompasses has grown ever broader. At the heart, however, a Comprehensive Plan is first and foremost a land use plan. The Land Use Plan Element provides the foundation upon which later plan elements are based. It is the blueprint for the future development of the Town.

The Land Use Plan Element provides policies for the orderly and planned development of the Town of Easton. The Conceptual Development Plan Map contained in the back of this Plan provides a graphic representation of the desired pattern of land uses within the Town. The Land Use Plan Element is geared to accommodate the range of population growth scenarios expected during the plan period to the year 2020. Implementation of the Land Use Plan Element policies is presently achieved primarily through the Town's Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances and community facilities (water and sewer) and planned road improvements. Also, the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Program, Forest Conservation Ordinance, Floodplain Ordinance, Building and Property Maintenance Codes enforce particular elements of this Plan. Greater detail concerning these and other alternatives for implementing the growth objectives of this Plan are given in the Implementation Chapter.

The use of land within the Town is the result of many physical, economic and social forces. The Land Use Plan Element reflects an attempt by the Town to equitably balance the achievement of Town goals and objectives for development with private property rights and interests. The Land Use Plan Element addresses issues and identifies Town policies relative to residential, commercial, and industrial development as well as the provision of lands for parks and open spaces. The Land Use Plan Element analyzes both the appropriate mix of development as well as the rate at which the Town should plan to grow.

Directing growth is a critical task facing local governments throughout the country today. Many communities view growth as essential to their economic health. Communities without growth may be forced to continually raise taxes on existing residents and businesses since the tax base does not expand. On the other hand, unchecked, unmanaged growth can also cause many problems. Achieving the right balance of land uses is key to avoiding these problems. For example, a community which focuses primarily on residential growth may become a bedroom community where the residents are forced to travel to other places for everything from work to shopping. A community with an overabundance of commercial development invites traffic congestion. And unless the community has adequate design standards, whatever development occurs can be undesirable.

BACKGROUND

Since a Comprehensive Plan is first and foremost a document which establishes policies for growth and land use, it is not surprising that the major emphasis during the 1995 Visioning exercise was growth. One entire station at the Town Planning Workshops was devoted to nothing but this subject. Another station, Design, was very closely related in that it concerned not so much the rate, but rather the quality of growth in Easton. This chapter addresses both aspects of this expansive topic.

EXISTING LAND USE

The first step necessary in making decisions relative to how to best use land in the future is to determine just how land is being used today. One indicator of this is given in the table below which shows the acreages of the various zoning districts as established in the 1993 Zoning Ordinance.

Source: Estimates prepared by Brent Spicer, Easton Utilities Commission, on January 3, 1994.

Using all of the input gathered during two Town Planning Workshops and drawing upon the work that lasted approximately one year, the Committee which updated this Plan produced a Conceptual Development Plan. In the most basic of terms, the Committee determined that this Plan should address growth as follows:

o Industrial development should be a priority of this Plan. However, there is probably sufficient land area in Town to accommodate the necessary industrial growth. Focus in this area should be upon developing the land that we have rather than on rezoning or annexing to provide more industrial land.

o There is enough commercial development in Easton at the present time. Future commercial development should be encouraged to locate in the Town Center when vacancies occur within one of the several existing shopping centers. People did not want to see any more shopping centers, but felt that there was room in Easton for additional commercial uses of many types from "big box" to "Mom and Pop" type retail. However, the role of future "big box" uses in Easton is very limited during the remainder of the planning period. Big box uses should primarily occur as a mechanism to redevelop existing shopping centers. Future large scale retail development should occur only in accordance with the policies set out in the ‘Year 2000 Supplement To The Comprehensive Plan - Major Retailing."

o Land area for residential development is not a significant concern. The Conceptual Development Plan proposes substantial areas for future residential growth. It is believed that as commercial build-out and in-fill and industrial development occurs as outlined above, the residential growth necessary to support it will follow.

o Regardless of the type, all growth needs to be improved in terms of appearance beyond that which we have generally experienced in the last 20 years in Easton.

It is clear that the issue of additional big box retailing has raised deeply held concerns in this community. On the one hand, proponents of additional big box retailing cite the additional buying opportunities and convenience which big box retailing can offer. On the other hand, those who are concerned about additional big box retailing point to a variety of problems: traffic, appearance, changing the nature or atmosphere of Easton, environmental concerns and impact upon existing businesses, whether located in Easton’s Downtown or its periphery.

All of these concerns have some measure of validity. It is a function of the Comprehensive Plan and the other land use regulations of the Town to balance these competing viewpoints. Easton is not alone in this task - a number of other small towns have dealt with these issues with a variety of approaches. The way which Easton resolves these issues is not fixed and will change over time as retailing trends, population, transportation and other factors change. But, for the remainder of this plan period the following principles should guide land use decisions in this area:

Easton is a unique small town which derives its identity in considerable part from its historic Downtown area and the residential neighborhoods which are in easy walking distance of the Downtown. Future development, both commercial and residential, should be designed to emulate this pattern of development to strengthen Easton’s atmosphere and identity. "Cookie cutter" corporate designs and color schemes do not necessarily fulfill these goals. Easton’s land use regulations should be amended to enable the Town to deny development proposals which do not meet these criteria. Publications which explain and illustrate design principles appropriate for Easton are:

Arendt, Randall. Rural By Design: Maintaining Small Town Character. Chicago: American Planning Association, 1994.

Beaumont, Constance E. Better Models for Superstores: Alternatives for Big-Box Sprawl. Washington: National Trust for Historic Preservation, 1997.

Fleming, Ronald Lee. Saving Face: How Corporate Franchise Design Can Respect Community Identity. Report No. 452. Chicago: American Planning Association and The Townscape Institute, June 1994.

Yaro, Robert D., and others. Dealing With Change in the Connecticut River Valley: A Design Manual for Conservation and Development. Fourth Printing. Massachusetts: Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Environmental Law Foundation, 1990.

While Easton has a proper role as one of several regional retailing centers, fulfilling this role should not come at the cost of compromising Easton’s unique and attractive small town character.

The 1997 Comprehensive Plan recommended that additional commercial development occur as vacancies occur in existing centers or adjacent to the Downtown. This recommendation is specifically affirmed.

As indicated above, additional big box retailing should be encouraged to locate in areas in or adjacent to the existing Downtown and the existing commercial development areas on Marlboro Road. This Year 2000 Supplement is not intended to prohibit the consideration of appropriately designed big box proposals located on other commercially zoned areas of the Town.

Big box retailing is defined in Easton as retail stores in excess of 25,000 square feet. Big box retailing brings with it both positive and negative impacts. Unless carefully designed and located, additional big box retailing can be extremely detrimental to existing traffic problems in Easton and can be inconsistent with, and ultimately destructive to, the small town atmosphere that the Town still enjoys. The 1997 Comprehensive Plan indicated that additional big box retailing had some role in the Town. In light of the many detrimental impacts which additional big box retailing can have on a community, especially a town of Easton’s size, additional big box retailing has only a limited role to play in Easton for the remainder of the plan period.

As big box retail store increase in size, negative land use impacts increase also. As size increases, it becomes increasingly more difficult to maintain compatibility of appearance and scale with the Town’s small town atmosphere. Thus, once a big box retail exceeds 65,000 square feet, including outdoor retail areas, it is of such a scale that its negative impacts outweigh its positive ones and as such have no place in Easton for the remaining plan period. The Easton Zoning Ordinance should be amended to prohibit any retail store in excess of 65,000 square feet including outdoor retail areas.

The design standards referenced herein should be made applicable to all commercial development. There is no reason why commercial buildings of less than 25,000 square feet should be held to a different standard.

Air pollution is a problem which must be addressed at State and National governmental levels - although Easton can, and should, encourage and/or require development patterns which will tend to reduce motor vehicle trips by local residents by requiring commercial development to include provisions for the safety and convenience of pedestrians. Water pollution is a matter over which the Town has some direct influence. Water pollution comes from two main sources: waste water and surface water run-off. The Town’s waste water treatment facility appears capable of handling increased loading while remaining within State permit requirements. Surface water run-off is another matter. Currently, State of Maryland regulations focus on the quantity of rainwater discharged from a development site. Future regulations will also address surface water quality. Until the State finally promulgates new surface water regulations dealing with water quality issues, the Town should adopt the surface water treatment standards currently applicable in the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area for the entire Town.

The Town should require submission of an environmental impact analysis for major development projects to assess all environmental impacts especially surface water issues. This requirement should not be limited to commercial projects.

As development pressures increase upon the Town and Talbot County, it is critical that the Town and the County foster and maintain a high degree of cooperation regarding responsible land use planning and development, "Smart Growth" and minimizing sprawl.

GROWTH MANAGEMENT

The key variable in determining how much land will be needed in the future for each of the various land uses is the Town's growth rate. Population projections described in the Background Section of this Plan, indicate that without any new encouragement or discouragement by Town growth policies, Easton's population can be expected to reach between 13,690 and 22,012 by the year 2020. While this is quite a range in population, it represents a very small difference in annual growth rates. The high figure is based on a 3% growth rate. The low figure is not based on an annual growth rate, but works out to be slightly more 1.1%. Thus small fluctuations in the annual rate of growth can have profound effects on the total future population. The conscious effort of the Town to attempt to manipulate this rate is one component of growth management.

In addition to the rate of growth, three additional components of growth management are the location of growth, the cost of growth, and the quality of growth. Many communities have attempted to manage growth in one or more of these areas through the use of various methods. These methods will be briefly discussed below as to their possible use in Easton. The options include both Zoning and Non-Zoning Techniques.

Density and intensity regulations control growth by regulating the number of units which may be built on a particular site or by regulating the intensity of that development. Zoning is the traditional method used to set density and intensity standards. Density standards are typically applied to residential development, where growth is managed by limiting the number of homes which may be built per acre. Intensity standards are more often applied to commercial and industrial developments and related to the bulk and height of buildings permitted in a particular area.

The primary advantages of density and intensity regulations are that they are well accepted as traditional planning tools. They are easy to interpret and implement, and are moderately effective in controlling growth. Furthermore they have a history of use in Easton. The principal disadvantage is that there is little or no control over the quality of development that occurs. The standards are largely quantitative and thus regulate numbers but not character.

(2) Large Lot Residential Zoning

Large lot residential zoning is perhaps the most commonly employed method to reduce the amount or rate of growth. However, it has often been ineffective as growth usually continues, only on larger lots. That is in fact the biggest drawback of this technique; it is very land consumptive.

A local example of this type of growth control is the 20 acre lot size limit in the Critical Area Resource Conservation District. The Town has no Resource Conservation Development due largely to the fact that development at this density is not an efficient use of Town Sewer service. For this reason traditional large lot zoning is not seen as appropriate for possible use in Easton as a method for controlling the rate of growth. Taken in relative terms, however, a Town-scale large lot zoning classification may be effective in improving the quality of growth. An example of this is provided by the Thread Haven subdivision. This subdivision is generally regarded as the "nicest" recent subdivision in Easton. At least part of the reason for this may be attributed to the fact that the average lot size in Thread Haven is just over 20,000 square feet. This is twice the minimum lot size of the R-10A zoning district. Thus a new classification with a minimum lot size of 20,000 to 25,000 square feet may play a role in improving the quality of residential development in Easton.

(3) Performance Standards

Performance standards relating to the quality of site design were developed in response to the limitations of traditional density and intensity regulations. Performance standards focus more on how development is carried out and what impacts it may have rather than concentrating on what development takes place. Uses are permitted as a matter of right in performance zoning districts, provided that pre-set performance standards are met. This approach has been used in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Lake County, Illinois, the City of Largo, Florida, and locally in Harford and Queen Anne's Counties in Maryland. Elements of performance zoning are also contained in the most recent updates of Easton's Zoning Ordinance and Subdivision Regulations.

The district is the essential element of the performance zoning approach. The district concept is based on the premise that areas of development, or lack of development, can be described by their community character. The type of growth permitted within a district is controlled by performance standards to insure that the desired character, as implied in growth management policies and as perceived by the public, is achieved. Community character has traditionally been thought of as too subjective to be used as a land planning tool. However, the character of an area can accurately be quantified in terms of the development mix that exists between residential, commercial and industrial uses. Land use in the districts can also be characterized by a range of percentages for each of these uses. In addition, the characteristics of a community are often related to such features as the amount of landscaping on lots, the floor area ratio, lot coverage, impervious surface ratios, roadway widths, highway levels-of-service, and others that can be expressed as performance standards.

Performance zoning can be a very effective growth management tool. Generally there are fewer zoning districts and these districts are based more on the nature or character of the area than is typically the case with traditional zoning. By developing districts that have sharply different characters and by reducing the absolute number of districts, the issue involved in a zoning change is clearly one of whether the character of an area should be changed. This creates a closer relationship between the zoning districts and the comprehensive plan than is normally the case with conventional zones, where there are a number of zoning districts that fall within a land use category (e.g. CG, CR, CM, and CL as commercial zones). The design of a performance ordinance can therefore discourage the incremental zoning changes that can erode the community's land use plan.

Pure performance zoning has two disadvantages relative to use in Easton. First, this technique would seem to work best in a larger area such as a County where there is adequate undeveloped land to accommodate growth, even if it is limited to the desired character or type of growth for its district. Second, the administration of performance zoning ordinances are tedious and have often been described as nightmarish for everyone from the staff and the Commissions to the developer. Given these drawbacks, a pure performance zoning ordinance is not seen as an option for controlling growth in Easton. This is not to say, however, that more performance based standards should not be added to the Town's development regulations. Also, design standards, which are not so much concerned with the impact of development as the appearance, are strongly recommended for Easton and are discussed in greater detail later in this chapter.

(4) Overlay Zoning

Overlay zoning involves the application of a map that overlaps but does not coincide with the boundaries of the underlying, basic zone or zones. Overlay zoning requires a special public interest in the area being overlaid. The mapped overlay zone, in effect, imposes a set of requirements over and above those of the underlying district.

Easton presently uses this technique to the extent that there are three overlay districts in the current Zoning Ordinance. These are the Historic Overlay District, the Planned Redevelopment Overlay District, and the Critical Area Overlay District, which also has three subclassifications.

When quality of commercial development is discussed in Easton, the focus of negative comments usually involves the Route 50 corridor. Thus a potential new overlay district in Easton is the Highway Corridor Overlay District. Hilton Head, South Carolina has developed a linear road corridor overlay district to provide visual protection along its main highways. There the road corridor overlay district was defined in the land management ordinance as all lands within 500 feet of the highway centerline. The stated purpose was to "encourage and better articulate positive visual experiences along the island's major existing and proposed highways." The intent of the road corridor overlay was not to achieve homogeneity, but rather to review proposals for their conformance to the intrinsic natural, scenic, or rural character of the neighborhoods or conformance with the image sought to be created.

The problems of commercial strip development in Easton are not so severe as to necessitate a duplication of the Hilton Head program. However, some elements seem appropriate.

(1) Capital Programming

A capital programming plan that is developed in conjunction with a growth management plan addresses the problem of planning public investment in a very direct and effective way. It is based on the premise that growth follows infrastructure improvements. Capital programming is a much stronger tool than zoning for the purpose of dictating the location of growth. A well designed capital improvements plan provides for the orderly extension of sewer and water at a rate needed to accommodate anticipated growth. A capital improvements plan provides the vehicle for elected officials to set priorities and to make the most efficient use of available funds.

There is a danger in letting capital improvements follow rather than lead the development process. Incremental, unplanned extensions of roads, sewer, etc., made only in response to development pressures can lead to such things as water systems that do not loop and sewer systems that run counter to existing topography. This can cause the entire system of infrastructure to suffer with some areas underutilized with other areas over utilized to the detriment of the whole.

In Easton a great deal of attention is given to capital improvements during development review through the Town's close association with Easton Utilities. However, there is no formal capital improvements plan. The Town has recently taken steps in this direction. The construction of Paper Run Road as called for in the 1989 Comprehensive Development Plan is one example.

(2) Exaction Fees

Exaction fees provide a more direct means of obtaining the funds needed for capital improvements to service new developments. Exaction fees were developed in response to the intense pressure that rapid new development placed upon the financial capabilities of local governments. Public monies had to be provided in order to finance necessary facilities such as schools, parks, roads, and other public infrastructure.

Exaction fees are an attempt to answer the underlying question of who pays for new growth by shifting the burden of these costs onto the developer. The Town of Easton has a tradition of requiring developers to pay many of these costs which are necessitated by their developments. No change is anticipate in this policy.

(3) Development Permit System

The development permit system is similar to an absolute growth cap. The difference is that rather than setting an absolute population cap, the rate of growth is limited. Under this approach a community determines the desired population increase over a period of, say, five years based on its capacity to provide services from its normal taxing revenues. It would then calculate the amount of development per year that would produce the desired growth.

The focus of the two most famous development permit systems, Ramapo, New York and Petaluma, California, was on the limited ability of the community to provide services. Both of these communities were able to tie the need for a controlled growth rate to the limited ability of the community to provide services. While it is easier to develop a rationale for these types of regulations than for an out and out population cap, there are problems that have led to a decrease in their popularity. A rate of growth ordinance is a very complex ordinance. In general, there is a need to hold periodic competitions to award the limited number of development permits. This requires extensive review by the staff over and beyond the normal review process, and because of the limited number of successful applicants, it is likely to create a large number of unsuccessful property owners. Most communities have turned to other means of financing the improvements as a better device than the permit system.

(4) Utility Districts

A repeated theme during the Visioning process was the concept of using Utility Districts to direct, control, and encourage growth in desirable locations. Under this concept, the cost associated with development could be recaptured by the first developer to move into a new area. Currently, the first developer into an area pays the entire cost of extending utilities to the proposed development. If there are undeveloped tracts of land between the proposed development and the existing terminus of the water or sewer main, the owners of those tracts in effect have the lines extended to their properties at the expense of the first developer. Utilizing a Utility District would allow that first developer to recapture the pro-rata share of the cost of utility extension to intervening properties at such time as they tap into the systems.

COMMUNITY CHARACTER

Community character covers a wide spectrum of concerns. Broadly, it involves what type of community Easton is currently and will be in the future. Besides the physical nature of the Town, such as spatial and visual quality and image as well as degree of congestion and access, community character includes such aspects as the quality of life and lifestyles, historical and cultural heritage, and economic well being. Consideration of community character brings into play the following issues.

First, issues regarding the scale, geographic distribution, and density of future development are present. These are traditional concerns of comprehensive planning and were discussed in the previous section.

The general quality of development and its relationship to neighboring properties is a second important issue. At the root of most development controversies is the perceived impact of new development on the quality of life and neighborhood character. As growth pressures increase in Easton, the potential for these conflicts will increase. In some cases conflicts are caused by the introduction of proposed development with land uses which are different from the surrounding community. In other cases, the proposed land use may not result in a change in the type of character but it may alter the scale of the community.

A third issue is the importance of natural features to the character of the area. Views of the rivers, creeks, wetlands, woods, and farmlands are subtle, but highly important aspects of community character. It must be remembered however, that at least in the case of farmlands, the property owner has a right to develop his or her land in accordance with the Town's development regulations and unless the economics of farming work for the property owner, the community must expect that some form of development will occur. The challenge is to insure that it is compatible with its surrounding neighborhood and any adverse impacts are minimized and mitigated.

A related problem of considerable concern is the conflict between the landowner who has not built and the landowner who has developed his land. Often times neighbors of vacant lots grow used to the open space and will protest when the property owner seeks to develop this land, even when it is a manner consistent with the zoning and development regulations applicable to the property.

In each area of the Town a decision must be made either to permit the character of the area to evolve and change (albeit in accordance with a desired pattern) or to maintain the existing character. In a Town subject to a potential 3% annual increase in population during the next twenty-five years, it will be difficult if not impossible to maintain the existing character everywhere.

In order to maintain and/or enhance community character, many of the options discussed in the growth management section are applicable. Also such things as Site Plan Review and Landscaping requirements, both of which were recently strengthened in Easton's Zoning Ordinance, can be very useful in improving the quality of development and in minimizing adverse impacts on adjacent properties. Other recent additions to Easton's development regulations such as Planned Developments and alternative street standards were added, at least in part, to address community character issues.

RECOMMENDED DESIGN PRINCIPLES FOR EASTON

One of the major recommendations coming from the Visioning Committee, particularly from the group which organized the Growth station, was that Easton's Planning and development regulations need to be less rigid and more design-oriented. That is, a project that is tastefully designed, with good site planning, (including landscaping and architecture), but which may not correspond to, for example the height or density limits of the Ordinance, should be approved more readily than one which meets all the standards but which displays poor site planning. In order to accomplish this, a set of Design Principles needs to be adopted, and existing landscaping regulations need to be strengthened and more stringently enforced.

A number of books have been published, particularly in the last five or six years, on the subject of improving the appearance and livability of our communities. The following books were utilized heavily in the establishment of the list of Recommended Design Principles below:

o Rural by Design, by Randall Arendt with Elizabeth A. Brabec, Harry L. Dodson, Christine Reid, and Robert Yaro, 1994, American Planners Association.

o Site Planning and Community Design for Great Neighborhoods, by Frederick D. Jarvis, 1993, Home Builder Press.

o Dealing With Change in the Connecticut River Valley: A Design Manual for Conservation and Development, by Robert D. Yaro, Randall G. Arendt, Harry L. Dodson, and Elizabeth A. Brabec, 1990, Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Environmental Law Foundation.

o Visions for a New American Dream, by Anton Clarence Nelessen, 1994, American Planning Association.

Potential developers in Easton are encouraged to review these publications for a more complete understanding of the proposed Design Principles.

While there is certainly not universal agreement upon what constitutes good site planning, there are a number of common elements or themes among the various sources on the subject. Among these are the following:

LAND USE AND GROWTH GOALS, OBJECTIVES AND IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

One of the last tasks of the Visioning Committee was to analyze all of the input from the Town Planning Workshops and produce a series of Goals, Objectives and Implementation Strategies. These are intended to serve as the basis for future Town policy in the various areas for which they were prepared.

The Land Use and Growth Goals, Objectives and Implementation Strategies represent the work of both the subcommittees on Growth and Design.

To provide a basis of understanding so that the development policies of the Town of Easton direct growth and development that appropriately utilizes limited land resources, that respond, react, relate and build on the historic land development patterns of the Town of Easton, that produce a mix of land uses, desirable land planning, architectural and landscape architectural design, and that positively influence the benefits of living in the Town of Easton.

To improve the physical appearance of existing development and ensure that future development of all types (i.e. residential, commercial, industrial, etc.) is consistent and harmonious with that of Easton as a whole and especially with the "older, traditional," areas of Town.

IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGIES

CONCEPTUAL DEVELOPMENT PLAN

The Conceptual Development Plan contained in the back pocket of this document is a graphic representation of the how land should be used in and around the current Town of Easton in the Year 2020. As such, this map should be consulted for future annexations and rezoning requests and should serve as the basis for the preparation of future Zoning Maps.

This Plan largely reflects existing land uses. In areas now located outside of Town, the overwhelming recommended land use is residential. Several future park sites are recommended as are improvements to the Road network in a few locations. Although depicted on the Conceptual Development Plan, these recommendations are discussed more completely in the Parks, Recreation and Open Space and Transportation Elements respectively. Five specific areas were singled out for comment and are discussed below.

Area 1 - Area 1 represents an area of land uses originally constructed in an era and under circumstances that no longer exist. Specifically, this area is predominately zoned industrial and is improved by such uses as large warehouses, grain elevators, etc... which were located along the railroad track to take advantage of this mode of transportation. Now the railroad has long since abandoned the tracks and industrial uses no longer make sense in this area. Thus it has been identified as a Redevelopment Area with the idea being that the predominate land use in the area should eventually be residential with a variety of housing types and densities.

Area 2 - Area 2 corresponds to the Downtown Core. This area has long been the governmental center for both the Town and Talbot County. For many years it was also the retail hub of the County, if not the Mid-Shore region. Recently more and more retail operations are either closing altogether or relocating to one of the newer shopping centers located on the edge of Town and increasingly the shops left behind are being converted to service uses. A certain amount of service commercial (i.e. real estate offices, accountants, insurance agents, lawyers, etc...) uses are appropriate. However, it was the feeling of the Committee that the mix has recently been tipped too heavily in this direction and that a more complete mix of uses is necessary. This area is particularly appropriate for vertical mixture of uses with retail on ground level, and offices and especially residences on second or third floors. The Visioning Committee strongly recommends that retail commercial uses should be the preferred land use in this area.

Area 3 - Area 3 is a relatively small area recommended for commercial development to serve the expected influx of workers when the area near the airport develops with industrial uses. The area corresponds roughly to the land located between Route 50 and Old Centreville Road from Airport Road to the point where Easton Parkway begins. The Committee felt that this area would be appropriate for such things as banks and restaurants to serve the employees of the industrial uses. The idea would be for these uses to front on Old Centreville Road which would essentially act as a service road. The rear, facing Route 50, would be intensely landscaped.

Area 4 - Area 4 is located north and east of the existing Town limits and is identified as a potential area for heavy industrial uses. This area was selected because some of these uses are already located in that area, albeit currently under County jurisdiction. It was also thought this area has relatively good access to Route 50, something that is important for heavy industrial uses.

Area 5 - Area 5 refers to Easton Point. For this area, currently located within the County, a "Revitalized Working Waterfront" is recommended. This refers to a mixture of uses including an expanded marina with supporting shops and restaurants, a continuation of industrial uses which depend on the water for transportation of goods and resources, and public access to and along the water. This area sparked such a high level of interest during the Town Planning Workshops, that it is recommended as one of the places for which a Small-Area Plan should be prepared. It was also felt that this Small-Area Plan should occur sooner rather than later so as not to lose the chance to do the kind of advanced long-range planning that is still possible before further development threatens this opportunity.