The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners is set to vote Aug. 4 on whether to formally adopt updated master plans for the county’s Prince Frederick and Dunkirk town centers, the final step in a review process that has stretched more than a year and a half.
Commissioners will consider adopting Draft Chapter 1: Town Centers, Draft Chapter 2: Prince Frederick Town Center Master Plan Update and Draft Chapter 3: Dunkirk Town Center Master Plan Update during their regular meeting at 10 a.m. in the Chesapeake Hearing Room at the County Administration Building, 150 Main St. in Prince Frederick. The meeting will stream live at calvertcountymd.gov/Meetings and on the county’s YouTube channel.
The vote follows a public hearing the board held July 21, at which commissioners heard comments on all three draft chapters before deciding to move toward adoption. Residents can still weigh in ahead of the vote: written comments submitted by close of business Monday, Aug. 3, will become part of the official record, and the board has said the draft chapters could still be substantively modified based on comments received. Comments can be submitted by email to TownCenterUpdate@calvertcountymd.gov or by mail to the county’s Department of Planning & Zoning at 150 Main St., Prince Frederick, MD 20678. The draft chapters are posted online at calvertcountymd.gov/TownCenterUpdates.
The town center master plan updates have moved through a lengthy public review process. The Prince Frederick chapter traces back to a draft first circulated in December 2024, which went through a 90-day public comment period from June 27 to Sept. 25 of that year and drew feedback from county agencies, departments and residents. The Calvert County Planning Commission held its own public hearing on the Dunkirk and general Town Centers chapters in February 2026, ultimately determining that all three draft chapters are consistent with the county’s Comprehensive Plan and recommending the Board of County Commissioners move forward with adoption.
Under the county’s Comprehensive Plan, town centers are meant to concentrate a mix of commercial, office, residential and public development in designated growth areas, an approach county planners have described as a way to promote economic development, create local jobs, expand cultural opportunities, reduce traffic congestion, discourage strip commercial development along roadways and provide a range of housing options near jobs and services. The county’s original 2019 Comprehensive Plan designated town center expansion areas for Dunkirk, Huntingtown, Lusby, Owings, Prince Frederick, Solomons and St. Leonard; a 2022 amendment narrowed the list of areas eligible for expansion to Huntingtown, Prince Frederick, Lusby and Solomons.
The Prince Frederick chapter has drawn particular attention over land currently zoned Employment Center within the town center’s boundaries. County planning staff have said roughly 252 acres carry that zoning designation, with an estimated 50 to 60 acres considered developable, and have worked through several rounds of review on how that land should factor into the broader town center plan. Housing affordability has also featured prominently in the underlying planning documents, which note that households earning 30% and 50% of the area median income face affordability challenges for both homeownership and rental housing in several of the county’s town centers, including Dunkirk and Prince Frederick.
Master plans like these function as the county’s long-range blueprint for how a designated growth area should develop over time, guiding decisions on zoning, infrastructure investment and public services even though adoption of the plan itself does not directly rezone any property. County planning officials have said the review process, including required consistency findings from the Planning Commission and multiple rounds of public comment, is designed to make sure the master plans reflect current development trends and community input before they take effect.
Residents with questions about the draft chapters or the Aug. 4 meeting can contact the Department of Planning & Zoning at 410-535-1600, ext. 2356, or by email at TownCenterUpdate@calvertcountymd.gov. General information about Calvert County government services, including how to stay informed about future planning meetings, is available at calvertcountymd.gov.
