Becoming Bay Smart: Understanding Maryland’s Critical Area Program

This half-day course is geared to citizens, new Critical Area property owners, realtors and other professionals that want to learn the “basics” of the Critical Area Program and how it applies to where they live, work, and play. The training will include a brief history of the Program and how it is implemented as a partnership between State and local governments. Development within the Critical Area and the various requirements in each land classification, RCA, LDA, and IDA, will be covered in some detail.

Presenters will provide an overview of Habitat Protection Areas and protection of the Critical Area Buffer will be specifically addressed. Attendees will receive information about shoreline activities such as erosion control measures, piers, and phragmites control and how the permit process is handled jointly by the Maryland Department of the Environment, the Corps of Engineers, and local governments. The session will wrap up with a discussion about the enforcement process and how property owners can work cooperatively with local governments to ensure that the Critical Area Program is implemented fairly, consistently, and effectively.