Chapter 25

PLANNING COMMISSION

[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the Town of Chestertown 3-1-1982. Amendments noted where applicable.]

GENERAL REFERENCES

Code of Ethics -- See Ch. 12.

Building construction -- See Ch. 57.

Floodplain management -- See Ch. 81.

Grading and sediment control -- See Ch. 88.

Historic area zoning -- See Ch. 93.

Stormwater management -- See Ch. 142.

Subdivision of land -- See Ch. 148.

Zoning -- See Ch. 170.

~ 25-1. Appointment; purpose and responsibilities.

A. A Planning Commission is hereby appointed for the purpose of making a comprehensive study of present conditions and expected growth in Chestertown, Maryland, and formulating or designing a Master Plan for Chestertown and designing a Zoning Ordinance based on said Master Plan.

B. The Planning Commission shall be responsible for administering such portions of the Zoning and Subdivision Ordinances as are assigned to the Planning Commission in those ordinances.

~ 25-2. Composition and membership; compensation; term of office; removal and vacancies.

The Commission shall consist of seven (7) members, who shall be appointed by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council. The Commission shall elect a Chairman from one (1) of the appointed members and create and fill such other offices as it may determine. All members shall serve without compensation. A quorum shall consist of the Chairman and three (3) voting members or four (4) voting members. The term of the Chairman and each member shall be five (5) years. Members may, after a public hearing, be removed by the Council for inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office. The Council shall file a written statement of reasons for such removal. Vacancies occurring otherwise than through the expiration of term shall be filled for the unexpired term by the Mayor and confirmed by the Council.

~ 25-3. Meetings; adoption of rules of procedure.

The Commission shall hold at least one (1) regular meeting each month. It shall adopt rules for transactions, findings and determinations, which record shall be a public record.

~ 25-4. Employment of consultants and other personnel; appropriations.

The Commission may appoint such employees as it may deem necessary for its work. The Commission may also contract with city planners, engineers, architects and other consultants for such services as it may require. The expenditures of the Commission, exclusive of gifts, shall be within the amounts appropriated for the purpose by the Council, which shall provide the funds, equipment and accommodations necessary for the Commission's work.

~ 25-5. Preparation and adoption of a Master Plan.

A. Preparation.

(1) It shall be the function and duty of the Commission to make and adopt a Master Plan for the physical development of the municipality, including any areas outside of its boundaries which, in the Commission's judgment, bear relation to the planning of such municipality. Such plan, with the accompanying maps, plats, charts and descriptive matter, shall show the Commission's recommendations for the development of said territory, including, among other things, the general location, character and extent of streets, viaducts, subways, bridges, waterways, waterfronts, boulevards, parkways, playgrounds, squares, public buildings, parks, aviation fields and other public ways, grounds and open spaces; the general location and extent of public utilities and terminals, whether publicly or privately owned or operated, for water, light, sanitation, transportation, communication, power and other purposes; and also the removal, relocation, widening, narrowing, vacating, abandonment, change of use or extension of any of the foregoing ways, grounds, open spaces, buildings, property, utilities or terminals, as well as a zoning plan for the control of the height, area, bulk, location and use of buildings and premises. As the work of making the whole Master Plan progresses, the Commission may from time to time adopt and publish a part or parts thereof, any such part to cover one (1) or more major sections or divisions of the municipality or one (1) or more of the aforesaid or other functional matters to be included in the plan. The Commission may, from time to time, amend, extend or add to the plan.

(2) In the preparation of such plan, the Commission shall make careful and comprehensive surveys and studies of present conditions and future growth in the municipality and with due regard to its relation to neighboring territory. The plan shall be made with the general purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted and harmonious development of the municipality and its environs, which will, in accordance with present and future needs, best promote health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare as well as efficiency and economy in the process of development, including, among other things, adequate provisions for traffic, the promotion of safety from fire and other dangers, adequate provision for light and air, the promotion of the healthful and convenient distribution of population, the promotion of good civic design and arrangement, wise and efficient expenditure of public funds and the adequate provision of public utilities and other public requirements.

B. Adoption procedures. The Commission may adopt the plan as a whole by a single resolution or may, by successive resolutions, adopt successive parts of the plan, said parts corresponding with major geographical sections or divisions of the municipality or with functional subdivisions of the subject matter of the plan, and may adopt any amendment or extension thereof or addition thereto. Before the adoption of the plan or any such part, amendment, extension or addition, the Commission shall hold at least one (1) public hearing thereon, notice of the time and place of which shall be given by one (1) publication in a newspaper of general circulation in the municipality. The adoption of the plan or of any such part or amendment or extension or addition shall be by resolution of the Commission carried by the affirmative votes of not less than the Chairman and three (3) voting members, or four (4) voting members of the Commission. The resolution shall refer expressly to the maps and descriptive and other matter intended by the Commission to form the whole or part of the plan, and the action taken shall be recorded on the map and plan and descriptive matter by the identifying signature of the Chairman and/or Secretary of the Commission. An attested copy of the plan or part thereof shall be certified to the Council and to the county recorder.

~ 25-6. Commission approval required prior to any construction or alteration in planned areas; procedures upon disapproval.

Whenever the Commission shall have adopted the Master Plan of the municipality or of one (1) or more major sections or districts thereof, no street, square, park or other public way, ground or open space or public utility, whether publicly or privately owned, shall be constructed or authorized in the municipality or in such planned section and district until the location, character and extent thereof shall have been submitted to and approved by the Commission, provided that in the case of disapproval, the Commission shall communicate its reason to the Council, which shall have the power to overrule such disapproval by a recorded vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of its entire membership; provided, however, that if the public way, ground, space, building, structure or utility is one for which the authorization of financing does not, under the law or Charter provisions governing the same, fall within the province of the Municipal Council, then the submission to the Planning Commission shall be by the board, commission or body having such jurisdiction, and the Planning Commission's disapproval may be overruled by said board, commission or body by a vote of not less than two-thirds (2/3) of its membership. The failure of the Commission to act within sixty (60) days from and after the date of official submission to the Commission shall be deemed an approval.

~ 25-7. Acquisition of land, water rights, structures or buildings; condemnation procedures.

Whenever it shall be deemed necessary by the Commission to take or acquire any lands, water rights, structures or buildings, either in fee or as an assessment, for parks, parkways, forests, roads, streets, boulevards, highways, grounds or spaces, the Commission may purchase the same from the owner or owners or, failing to agree with the owner or owners thereof, may condemn the same by proceedings in the Circuit Court for the county in which said land, water rights, structures or buildings are located as now provided for condemnation of land by public service corporations in Article 33A of the Annotated Code of Maryland, 1957 Edition, as amended. Said Commission may, at the same time, condemn the interest of any tenant, lessee or other person having an interest in said land or other property. At any time after ten (10) days after the return and recordation of the verdict or award in said proceeding, the Commission may enter and take possession of said property so condemned upon first paying to the Clerk of the Court the amount of said award and all costs taxed to date notwithstanding any appeal or further proceeding on the part of the defendant. However, at the time of said payment, it shall give its corporate undertaking to abide by and fulfill any judgment on such appeal or further proceeding if there is an appeal.

~ 25-8. Powers and duties generally.

The Commission shall have the power to promote public interest in and understanding of the plan. The Commission shall, from time to time, recommend to the appropriate public officials programs for public structures and improvements and for the financing thereof. It shall be part of its duties to consult and advise with public officials and agencies, public utility companies, civic, educational, professional and other organizations and with citizens in relation to the protecting or carrying out of the plan. The Commission shall have the right to accept and use gifts for the exercise of its functions. All public officials shall, upon request, furnish to the Commission, within a reasonable time, such available information as it may require for its work. The Commission, its members, officers and employees, in the performance of their functions, may enter upon any land and make examinations and surveys and place and maintain necessary monuments and marks thereof. In general, the Commission shall have such powers as may be necessary to enable it to fulfill its functions, promote municipal planning or carry out the purposes of this chapter.