When and what:

On Tuesday, Jan. 10, at 12:30 pm, the Charles County Board of Commissioners will hold a briefing/vote on a so-called Environmental Recovery Zone for Port Tobacco.

The ERZ, which has been marketed as an “environmental” fix for the polluted Port Tobacco River, has received stiff opposition from citizens and environmentalists as well as from the Maryland Department of Planning. If approved, the new zone could allow a developer to build up to 1,500 homes on 1,000 acres of land near the river in exchange for hooking up 150 homes in the “Riviera” neighborhood to a wastewater treatment plant.

More details about the Jan. 10 meeting:

Open Session (Commissioners’ Meeting Room – County Office building – La Plata, MD)

Subject: 

[12:30 p.m.] Briefing/Vote: Amendment to the 2006 Comprehensive Plan - Port Tobacco Watershed Environmental Restoration & Recovery Area (Mr. Peter Aluotto, Director/Mr. Steve Ball, Planning Director, Planning & Growth Management)

READ the county’s “Policy Framework” for the ERZ

LISTEN to the Planning Commission’s discussion and vote for the ERZ (11/21/11)

WATCH Michael Paone, of the Maryland Department of Planning, who gives a thumbs down on the Planning Commission’s Environmental Recovery Zone

WATCH a video excerpt from our interview with Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler

WATCH a video excerpt from our interview with Jennifer Bevan-Dangel, 1,000 Friends of Maryland

LISTEN to a soundbite from the June 6, 2011 PC meeting where PC Chairman Courtney Edmonds explains why he is against the ERZ

LISTEN to a soundbite from the June 6, 2011 PC meeting where Courtney Edmonds and Joe Richard argue about whether the ERZ was inspired by a specific developer’s project

LISTEN to a soundbite from the June 6, 2011 PC meeting where Stephen Bunker explains why he is against the ERZ

LISTEN to a soundbite from the April 10, 2011 PC meeting where Courtney Edmonds says he is concerned about creating an ERZ outside of the 2012 Comprehensive Plan process

LISTEN to a soundbite from the January 4, 2011 PC subcommittee meeting where WeMakeItNews.com editor Maury Tobin asks whether the ERZ approach for cleaning up a polluted waterway has been tried anywhere else in the state of Maryland