LA PLATA — A small affordable housing project in Waldorf has become Charles County’s first test of Maryland’s tougher forest rules, which now require public comment before a developer can clear high-priority trees or shift more of its replanting obligation offsite.
Eagle Point would put three multifamily buildings and a community building on a 2.88-acre forested parcel off Old Washington Road. Every acre of that forest would be cleared, with no planting on site, planner Caitlin Clue told the Charles County Planning Commission on Monday.
The developer, PECS Development, proposes to cover 60% of its required mitigation by buying credits in an offsite forest retention bank, a strategy the state calls qualified conservation. The remaining 40% would be paid as a fee in lieu.
Why the hearing happened
Under Section 5-1607 of the state Natural Resources Article, no more than 50% of a project’s mitigation can be met through qualified conservation. With justification, that can rise to 60%, but only after a public comment period and approval from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources. Clue said the request is now under DNR review.
The site also triggers a second rule. It is mapped as priority urban forest in a Tier II high-quality watershed, and the plan would disturb trees measuring 30 inches in diameter at 4.5 feet above the ground. Clearing those priority retention areas now requires written public comment and notice to neighbors at least 20 days before the forest conservation plan is approved. Clue said the applicant mailed those notices and gave staff proof Oct. 12.
Both requirements stem from 2023 legislation, Senate Bill 526, whose changes to the Forest Conservation Act took effect July 1, 2026. DNR has since issued an updated model ordinance for local governments to follow.
The commission took no vote. The session served only as the public forum the state requires.
Where the trees go instead
Commissioner Jeffrey Bossert asked what offsite meant in practice. Clue said qualified conservation is not new planting; it means buying credits for existing forest already protected in a retention bank elsewhere. She said Charles County has an abundance of retention banks but no planting banks at this time, which is why the rest of the obligation would go to the fee.
Sue Greer, the attorney for PECS Development, said the parcel sits exactly where governments want growth. It is in the county’s development district and priority funding area, the Waldorf urban redevelopment corridor and a federal opportunity zone. She called the project a guinea pig as the first one under the new law and thanked county staff for working through the process.
The project fits a broader county push. Charles adopted an affordable housing plan a year ago, and the Chronicle reported in October that the plan was showing early progress.
A warning for small landowners
The only public speaker, Tim Lesnar of Waldorf, said he does not represent the developer but supported the request. He cited the county’s 2022 land preservation, parks and recreation plan, which ranks Charles third in Maryland for forest acreage, behind Garrett and Allegany counties, with about 164,600 forested acres. Preserving higher-quality forest offsite, he said, helps offset the loss.
Lesnar also predicted the commission will see many more requests like this one, and said the new rules will weigh heaviest on individual property owners, who may need an attorney, an engineer, review fees and mitigation purchases to develop a single parcel.
Charles is applying the state law directly for now. Tony Feltz, assistant chief of planning, said staff will bring an update on the county’s own forest conservation ordinance to the commission Nov. 16, and that this kind of forum may be a one-time arrangement while the county decides how future public comment will work. Nearby, the Town of La Plata is rewriting its own forest ordinance to match the state changes.
