Maryland's Governor O'Malley, heading into his 2nd and last term, wants to leave behind a legacy of environmental improvement, including new smart growth policies to limit building in rural areas.
In addition to wind energy and septic cleanup proposals to improve the environment, O'Malley is proposing new legislation that would encourage development in urban and suburban areas and away from farmland.
Columnist Robert McCartney writes in The Washington Post:
"That strikes me as good smart-growth policy, but the farmers aren't necessarily the only ones who'll squawk about it. [State Senator E.J.] Pipkin pointed out that residents in built-up areas often resist packing in more population because of concerns about congestion and other quality-of-life issues.
"The challenge is, we don't have the buy-in from citizens to increase the density in the growth areas that the state already has," Pipkin said."
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