LA PLATA — Developers who cut down trees in La Plata will soon face tighter limits on making up for it somewhere else, under an update to the town’s forest conservation ordinance that the Planning Commission sent to a public hearing Tuesday night.
The commission directed staff to advertise Zoning Text Amendment ZTA-06-2026 for a hearing at its Dec. 1 meeting. The amendment rewrites parts of Chapter 108 of the town code, its resource protection standards, so they match changes to the state Forest Conservation Act that took effect in July.
Town staff told the commission the update is maintenance, not a policy shift. Local governments must enforce forest rules at least as strict as the state’s, and staff said falling out of step could put the town’s authority to run its own program at risk. The town’s current ordinance dates to July 27, 2021.
The Maryland Department of Natural Resources approved the draft Oct. 13, staff said. Tim Horner, a senior landscape architect with the town’s engineering consultant, helped write it and joined the meeting online.
What changes, section by section
- Definitions and exemptions are aligned with DNR’s 2026 model ordinance, including rules for existing lots and linear projects.
- Fee in lieu: the town could let an applicant pay into a forest conservation fund when planting is not reasonable, without first getting state approval.
- Native species: replanting must use native Maryland species whenever possible.
- Financial security: bonds would cover planting for two years, with release rules matched to the state model.
- Reporting: the town’s annual forest report to DNR moves from March 1 to Aug. 31 and covers the prior calendar year.
- Future changes: any later amendment to the ordinance would need DNR approval.
What it means for development in town
The Town Council’s liaison to the commission initially read the update as raising La Plata’s replanting ratio to one acre planted for each acre cleared. Horner corrected that. Because the entire town is a state priority funding area, forest cleared there still must be replaced at half an acre for each acre removed. The one-to-one ratio applies outside priority funding areas, which he said gives developers an incentive to build where the state wants growth.
The bigger change for La Plata is qualified conservation, in which a developer preserves existing forest elsewhere instead of replanting. Under the old rules, a project could clear a town parcel entirely and protect trees outside town for all of its obligation. Now that credit is capped at 50%, so at least half the mitigation has to come from planting or other options, the council member said, and staff agreed.
Asked who enforces the rules, town staff said the responsibility falls to the town’s planning department. The 50% cap comes from the same state law Charles County is now applying; on Monday, a Waldorf affordable housing project became the county’s first to seek up to 60% offsite credit, the most the state allows with DNR approval.
Growth pressure is a recurring theme for the town. In October, the commission heard that La Plata’s water system is nearing its limit.
New leadership
Before taking up the ordinance, the commission elected Vice Chair Jill Hudnall as interim chair and Commissioner Ford as vice chair, both without objection. The council member told the commission that the Town Council recently appointed Ford a full member; he previously served as an alternate. Commissioner Miller was absent.
The public can weigh in on the ordinance at the Dec. 1 hearing, which staff described as the commission’s next regular meeting. The meeting agenda is posted on the town’s portal.
