The chief executive of Anne Arundel County, Maryland, has announced two new policies aimed at protecting the county's sensitive environmental areas and the Chesapeake Bay.
County Executive Steuart Pittman made the announcement on Wednesday at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation in Annapolis.
One policy will require the location of wetlands to be verified before development plans are reviewed. Another will require developers to minimize and mitigate environmental impacts.
The new policies direct the county's planning office to carefully review the locations of environmental resources on a site. The office also must examine all requests for modifications, or waivers to environmental protections, affecting those features.
Pittman's office says developers who seek modifications will have to justify why protections should be waived, and how they plan to mitigate environmental impacts.
