LEONARDTOWN — St. Mary’s County will not run public water and sewer into rural areas just to make room for the denser housing Annapolis wants, a county commissioner told the leaders of the Maryland Association of Counties on Oct. 27.
The pushback came during MACo’s annual “roadshow” visit to the Commissioners of St. Mary’s County, a stop the association makes in all 24 Maryland jurisdictions each fall to preview the coming General Assembly session. MACo President MC Keegan-Ayer, a Frederick County Council member, and Executive Director Michael Sanderson made the case that the 2027 session will be one of the hardest in years for county budgets.
For St. Mary’s residents, the housing debate goes to how and where the county grows. Commissioners have spent about two years rewriting the county’s comprehensive plan and expect to start rewriting the comprehensive zoning ordinance after the new fiscal year begins in July, a job one commissioner estimated will take 12 to 18 months. State rules that override that work, he said, would waste the time and money the county has spent deciding what fits St. Mary’s.
‘Not one size fits all’
The commissioner said his biggest concern is the erosion of local authority, listing state actions on workforce development, the siting of cannabis facilities and housing. He objected to pressure for high-density housing in places without public water and sewer, saying the county would bear the cost of extending those lines and that people living in those areas don’t want that kind of development in a rural county.
“Everything is not one size fits all for everybody,” he said.
Sanderson said county leaders have earned their skepticism after years of state measures, on solar and other issues, that trimmed local decision-making. But on this point he offered some reassurance. Last session’s major housing bill, which would have treated residential zones as suitable for much denser construction by removing limits such as minimum lot sizes, did not pass after heavy opposition at its hearings. He expects a revised version in 2027.
The clear message from those hearings, Sanderson said, was that the state can’t force density into places without real growth capacity, and public water and sewer is the most obvious test. He said he sees little appetite in Annapolis to push more development into areas served by wells and septic systems today. The sharper fight, he said, will be over local zoning rules in areas that are already zoned residential and have utility capacity.
The commissioner wasn’t persuaded. He said residents of St. Mary’s know what is best for their county, just as Frederick residents know what is best for theirs.
Sanderson raised one more trend he called a twist in the housing debate: some pro-housing advocates now argue for fewer public hearings and fewer approval stages, so neighbors have fewer chances to object to projects over traffic, water or school crowding. He said bills to limit those hearings have already appeared. Keegan-Ayer said MACo has heard the same “one size doesn’t fit” complaint in every county it has visited.
Trades training and the workforce board
Commissioners also used the session to defend the region’s workforce pipeline. Earlier that day, the Tri-County Council for Southern Maryland briefed commissioners on the Southern Maryland Workforce Development Board, and Commissioner Eric Colvin wrote afterward that potential state changes to how local workforce areas are evaluated prompted the county to try to head off any interruption in services.
A commissioner said Southern Maryland’s job needs, shaped by Naval Air Station Patuxent River, differ from other regions and should not be set by state officials far away. Commissioners said the county’s career and technology center, shared by three high schools, has about 400 students who can’t get in, and that the College of Southern Maryland’s trades programs in Hughesville are full.
Sanderson said workforce systems need connectors between job seekers and employers and that patching problems is different from scrapping a model that works. Keegan-Ayer, who serves on Frederick County’s workforce board, said laid-off federal employees there have used it to retrain for new careers.
A hard session ahead
The housing fight will play out against a state budget hole. Sanderson said lawmakers should expect a fiscal package in the range of $3 billion to $4 billion in 2027, with consequences for county budgets and for affordability. Maryland’s Department of Budget and Management has told agencies it is planning around a projected FY2028 deficit closer to $3 billion and asked them to prepare budgets with cuts of about 3%, with some planning for up to 10%.
Sanderson said he is somewhat hopeful the coming session will settle the state’s finances rather than kick the problem down the road again, even if the outcome is painful.
Commissioners Mike Hewitt and Scott R. Ostrow were absent. Commissioner President Randy Guy, a longtime MACo board member, thanked Sanderson and Keegan-Ayer and called the public service award MACo gave him last year a highlight of his 12 years in office.
MACo’s fall roadshow ends ahead of its winter conference, and the General Assembly convenes in January, when lawmakers will take up the governor’s budget and whatever housing bill returns.
