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Ch. 432
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2002 LAWS OF MARYLAND
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WHEREAS, These recent rulings by the Court of Appeals are contrary to the
intent of the General Assembly in enacting the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area
Protection Act; and
WHEREAS, It is the intent of this Act to overrule these recent decisions of the
Court of Appeals regarding variances to Critical Area regulations; now, therefore,
SECTION 1. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF
MARYLAND, That the Laws of Maryland read as follows:
Article - Natural Resources
8-1801.
(a) The General Assembly finds and declares that:
(1) The Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries are natural resources of
great significance to the State and the nation;
(2) The shoreline and adjacent lands constitute a valuable, fragile, and
sensitive part of this estuarine system, where human activity can have a particularly
immediate and adverse impact on water quality and natural habitats;
(3) The capacity of these shoreline and adjacent lands to withstand
continuing demands without further degradation to water quality and natural
habitats is limited;
(4) National studies have documented that the quality and productivity
of the waters of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries have declined due to the
cumulative effects of human activity that have caused increased levels of pollutants,
nutrients, and toxics in the Bay System and declines in more protective land uses
such as forestland and agricultural land in the Bay region;
(5) Those portions of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries within
Maryland are particularly stressed by the continuing population growth and
development activity concentrated in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan
corridor;
(6) The quality of life for the citizens of Maryland is enhanced through
the restoration of the quality and productivity of the waters of the Chesapeake Bay
and its tributaries;
(7) The restoration of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries is
dependent, in part, on minimizing further adverse impacts to the water quality and
natural habitats of the shoreline and adjacent lands;
(8) The cumulative impact of current development is inimical to these
purposes; and
(9) There is a critical and substantial State interest for the benefit of
current and future generations in fostering more sensitive development activity in a
consistent and uniform manner along shoreline areas of the Chesapeake Bay and its
tributaries so as to minimize damage to water quality and natural habitats.
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- 3244 -
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