Prince George's County Council - Reference No. CB-020-2024

• Reference No.: CB-020-2024
• Draft No.: 3
• Type: Council Bill
• Status: Enacted
• Meeting Body: County Council
• Meeting Date: 5/7/2024
• Introduced Date: 4/2/2024
• Public Hearing Date: 05/07/2024 @ 10:00 AM
• Effective date: 7/1/2024
• Title: AN ACT CONCERNING WOODLAND AND WILDLIFE HABITAT CONSERVATION ORDINANCE for the purpose of revising the existing subtitle in order to comply with state mandated revisions as per the Maryland Forest Conservation Act; revising and adding definitions; revising applicability and exemption requirements; revising plan review, validity and grandfathering requirements; revising a certain definition; providing for a certain fee-in-lieu; establishing a certain Fund; revising the variance and appeal process; revising enforcement process; revising the conservation requirements including priority areas, thresholds and replacement ratios; revising conservation requirements design criteria, priorities, options and bonding; revising forest stand delineation area; and revising forest harvesting.
• Proposers/Sponsors: M-NCPPC, Sydney J. Harrison, Ingrid S. Watson, Eric C. Olson, Wanika Fisher, Calvin S. Hawkins, Thomas E. Dernoga, Krystal Oriadha
• Code sections: 25-117 - , 25-118 - , 25-119 - , 25-120 - , 25-121 - , 25-122 - , 25-123 - , 25-124 -
• Contact: Megan Reiser, M-NCPPC Staff

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result
5/15/2024	3	County Executive	signed
5/7/2024	3	County Council	public hearing held
5/7/2024	3	County Council	enacted	Pass
4/2/2024	2	County Council	amended (1)	Pass
4/2/2024	2	County Council	introduced
3/26/2024	1	Transportation, Infrastructure, Energy and Environment Committee	Favorably recommended with amendments	Pass
3/12/2024	1	County Council	presented and referred

Title

AN ACT CONCERNING WOODLAND AND WILDLIFE HABITAT CONSERVATION ORDINANCE for the purpose of revising the existing subtitle in order to comply with state mandated revisions as per the Maryland Forest Conservation Act; revising and adding definitions; revising applicability and exemption requirements; revising plan review, validity and grandfathering requirements; revising a certain definition; providing for a certain fee-in-lieu; establishing a certain Fund; revising the variance and appeal process; revising enforcement process; revising the conservation requirements including priority areas, thresholds and replacement ratios; revising conservation requirements design criteria, priorities, options and bonding; revising forest stand delineation area; and revising forest harvesting.

Background

The purpose of this bill is to update the overall ordinance, in order to comply with state mandated revisions as per the Maryland Forest Conservation Act; revising and adding definitions; revising applicability and exemption requirements; revising plan review, validity and grandfathering requirements; revising the variance and appeal process; revising enforcement process; revising the conservation requirements including priority areas, thresholds and replacement ratios; revising conservation requirements design criteria, priorities, options and bonding; revising forest stand delineation area; and revising forest harvesting. Modifications to this ordinance are needed to address requirements of HB 723-2023 (Forest Preservation and Retention) with an effective date of July 1, 2024.

The related bills include proposed revisions to Subtitle 25 Division 3, and Subtitle 24.