LA PLATA, MD - Allan R. "Al" Smith was sworn in as the Charles County Commissioners' representative on the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission on Tuesday, May 2, 2006, at the Charles County Courthouse by Clerk of the Circuit Court Sharon Hancock.
The Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission was created by an act of the Maryland General Assembly in 1984. The Commission is charged with promoting criteria necessary to: minimize impacts from stormwater runoff; conserve fish, plant, and wildlife habitat; and establish land use policies for the Critical Area which accommodate growth and address the environmental impacts which result form the number, movement, and activities of people in the Bay's sensitive shoreline. Charles County is one of 61 jurisdictions that fulfill local Critical Area programs consistent with the Critical Area Act and Criteria.
Commissioner Smith has also served as the Chairman of the Patuxent River Commission for the past three years. The Commission is a 34-member, inter-jurisdictional group that was created by State legislation in 1980 to address Patuxent watershed issues. The Commission is charged with the implementation of the Patuxent Policy Plan and in 1995 assumed the additional role of the Patuxent River Tributary Team. The focus of the Patuxent Policy Plan is to address programmatic and land management issues while the Patuxent Tributary Strategy seeks to reduce nutrient and sediment pollution.
More information about the Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission is available at:
http://www.dnr.state.md.us/criticalarea/