Meeting colors

OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD

Record of Proceedings

Calvert County Planning Commission Approves Water and Sewer Plan Update with Conditions on October 21, 2026

County Commissioners & Boards — Wednesday, October 21, 2026

BodyCalvert County, Maryland

SessionCounty Commissioners & Boards

DateWednesday, October 21, 2026

StatusFILED

Video Record

0:00 / 43:11

Transcript — VerbatimClick a timed line to jump · ⧉ to share it

Speaker numbers apply only to this recording.

Speaker 1

0:00

Commissioner Curns.

Speaker 2

0:02

Here.

Speaker 1

0:03

Commissioner Twee.

0:04

Here.

0:05

Commissioner Weams.

0:06

Here.

0:07

Commissioner Gadway.

0:09

Here.

0:10

We have a quorum.

0:11

The meeting is called to order.

Unassigned speaker

0:13

I

Speaker 1

0:14

understand we're having some technical difficulties.

Speaker 3

0:16

Yeah.

0:17

So let me just go ahead and say that this meeting will be conducted as a hybrid meeting, and so we're allowing for both virtual and in-person participation.

0:27

And it's being recorded on both audio and video for record keeping purposes.

0:32

Citizens are invited if they're in person to provide comments after the presentation.

0:38

And anyone here who wishes to speak must sign in on the sheet located on the table as you enter the door in the back of the room.

0:46

And also please sign the attendance sheet by the door.

0:49

If you are turned attend uh if you are attending virtually, um, please keep yourself muted to ensure that no interruptions are happening this evening.

0:59

However, we are having some technical difficulties, so we don't know if people will be able to call in.

1:05

Um we're trying to find a phone.

Speaker 4

1:07

People will be able to call in for public hearing.

Speaker 3

1:09

Okay.

1:10

We're gonna fix it.

1:11

We're locating a phone, so as soon as we get the phone, I'll make sure to announce that.

1:16

And um so that being said, should we wait until we have the phone or go ahead with the presentation?

Speaker 4

1:28

May I we can go ahead and proceed?

1:32

Um, people are still able to watch it, they're just not able to call in.

1:35

So we just need a method of communicating when we get to the public comp to the public comment section.

1:41

So I'm assuming we'll have more time and then we'll double check when we start getting closer to the public comment section if that's acceptable to the commission.

1:50

Yes, that's great.

Speaker 3

1:52

Okay.

1:52

So we'll go ahead.

1:53

Um we're gonna have presentation by staff.

1:56

Um tonight we have uh staff from DPW in our presence.

2:02

We have uh J.R.

2:04

Cosgrove, the Director of Public Works.

2:07

We have Emily Matthews, the project engineer too.

2:10

We have Joey McKinney, the water and sewer division chief, James Ritter, the Enterprise Fund Operations Director, and Cheyenne Nader, the project engineer too.

2:22

And so if we can go ahead and have you

Speaker 1

2:25

Ruth before before we let's do the Pledge of Leaders, please.

Speaker 3

2:28

Oh, yes, I'm sorry, we're all off kilter here.

Speaker 5

2:40

One nation on your God, indivisible with liberty of justice for

Speaker 3

2:50

thank you.

2:51

We're all we're all a little bit out of sorts here.

2:55

Okay, so um if we could go ahead and have the Department of Public Works come on up and you can give your presentation.

Speaker 6

3:18

Good evening, everyone.

3:19

It's good to see you all again.

3:21

Tonight we'll be going through our water and sewer comprehensive plan for the December 2025 update, and just jumping into our memo.

3:28

The background the Department of Public Works Water and Sewer Division has initiated an update to the county's water and sewer comprehensive plan to reflect changes in system conditions, growth patterns, regulator requirements, and planned capital improvements.

3:44

This update will support continued compliance with the Maryland Department of the Environment and ensure consistency with the county comprehensive plan.

3:52

The water and sewer comprehensive plan is the county's long-range planning document guiding the provision of public water and sewer service.

4:01

The update assesses existing system capacities, update service area designations, and incorporates both approved and proposed development projects.

4:10

Key components of the update include reviewing and revising water and sewer category maps, incorporating approved capital improvement program projects, and long-term infrastructure needs, ensuring consistency with the adopted county comprehensive plan, and updating system capacity analysis for water supply treatment, storage, as well as wastewater conveyance and treatment.

Unassigned speaker

4:33

The

Speaker 6

4:34

water and sewer comprehensive plan update was presented to the planning commission in January and it directed to seek agency comments.

4:42

The agency comment period is complete, and the updated plan is before the planning commission to seek approval to proceed with the B to the BOCC for adoption.

4:51

The agency comments and updated plans are attached.

Unassigned speaker

5:00

Any fiscal impacts associated with the water and sewer comprehensive plan update are anticipated to be minimal and will be incorporated into existing operating budgets.

Speaker 6

5:05

Long term capital improvements identified through the update are included in the current water and sewer capital improvement program.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting

Water And Wastewater Management█████████████████████████████████████████████72%

Procedural███████11%

Engineering And Infrastructure█████8%

Environmental Protection████6%

Zoning And Land Use██3%

Summary of Proceedings

Calvert County Planning Commission Approves Water and Sewer Comprehensive Plan Update with Conditions on October 21, 2026

On Wednesday, October 21, 2026, at 7:00 p.m., the Calvert County Planning Commission held a hybrid public hearing in the Chesapeake Room of the County Administration Building in Prince Frederick, MD, with virtual participation via TEAMS. The sole agenda item was a staff presentation on the Department of Public Works Water and Sewer Division's Water and Sewer Comprehensive Plan December 2025 Update. Planning Commission members considered whether the update was consistent with the Calvert County Comprehensive Plan and should be recommended to the Board of County Commissioners for adoption. Staff and a consultant from Whitman Requardt and Associates presented the update and responded to Commission questions.

Public Comments & Testimony

No members of the public provided testimony. No in-person sign-ups or virtual/phone speakers were present; the phone line was initially unavailable but restored before the public comment portion.

Discussion Items

Staff explained that the update was initiated to reflect changes in system conditions, growth patterns, regulatory requirements, planned capital improvements, and consistency with the county comprehensive plan and Maryland Department of the Environment requirements. The update revises water and sewer category maps, incorporates approved capital improvement program projects, and updates capacity analyses for water supply, treatment, storage, wastewater conveyance, and treatment.
Consultant Francis Bonkowski noted the plan updates the previous 2014 plan to align with the 2019 Calvert County Comprehensive Plan. After an agency comment period, comments were received and addressed from county and municipal agencies, including Calvert County Planning and Zoning, the Department of Health, the Beaches Water Cooperative, and Anne Arundel County Planning and Zoning.
Commissioner questions raised concerns that the draft did not address recent sewer overflows, including incidents at Solomons and continuing problems in Chesapeake Beach. Public Works Director J.R. Cosgrove described one Solomons pump station failure caused by aging pumps and an electrical surge, acknowledged infrastructure age and funding limits, and stated that improvements such as watertight manhole covers are underway.
Commissioners also raised concerns about aquifer sustainability, sea level rise impacts on septic systems and treatment facilities, saltwater infiltration, PFAS contamination, outdated arsenic data from 2003, and the need to address climate change in functional plans. Staff noted that new state climate-change requirements as of October 1 apply to comprehensive and geographic plans, not functional plans like the water and sewer plan; however, commissioners asked for these topics to be included.
Director Cosgrove warned that delaying approval could affect MDE funding. He cited the Highland sewer system category change: an application was denied by MDE because the comprehensive plan had not yet been approved.

Key Outcomes

An initial motion to return the draft to staff was restated as a motion to find the plan not consistent with the comprehensive plan because it inadequately treated aquifer sustainability, sea level rise, saltwater infiltration, PFAS, arsenic, and recent wastewater spills and remediation. That motion failed on a roll call vote, 2 in favor and 5 opposed.
A subsequent motion was made to close the record, find the proposed Water and Sewer Comprehensive Plan December 2025 Update consistent with the Calvert County Comprehensive Plan, and recommend adoption by the Board of County Commissioners, conditioned on inclusion of sections on aquifer sustainability; sea level rise impacts on septic and water treatment facilities; saltwater infiltration; PFAS and arsenic levels; and recent wastewater treatment plant spills and remediation issues. The motion was seconded and carried unanimously on a roll call vote.
The Planning Commission therefore approved the update with those conditions and will transmit its consistency finding and adoption recommendation to the Board of County Commissioners.

Meeting Transcript

Commissioner Curns. Here. Commissioner Twee. Here. Commissioner Weams. Here. Commissioner Gadway. Here. We have a quorum. The meeting is called to order. I understand we're having some technical difficulties. Yeah. So let me just go ahead and say that this meeting will be conducted as a hybrid meeting, and so we're allowing for both virtual and in-person participation. And it's being recorded on both audio and video for record keeping purposes. Citizens are invited if they're in person to provide comments after the presentation. And anyone here who wishes to speak must sign in on the sheet located on the table as you enter the door in the back of the room. And also please sign the attendance sheet by the door. If you are turned attend uh if you are attending virtually, um, please keep yourself muted to ensure that no interruptions are happening this evening. However, we are having some technical difficulties, so we don't know if people will be able to call in. Um we're trying to find a phone. People will be able to call in for public hearing. Okay. We're gonna fix it. We're locating a phone, so as soon as we get the phone, I'll make sure to announce that. And um so that being said, should we wait until we have the phone or go ahead with the presentation? May I we can go ahead and proceed? Um, people are still able to watch it, they're just not able to call in. So we just need a method of communicating when we get to the public comp to the public comment section. So I'm assuming we'll have more time and then we'll double check when we start getting closer to the public comment section if that's acceptable to the commission. Yes, that's great. Okay. So we'll go ahead. Um we're gonna have presentation by staff. Um tonight we have uh staff from DPW in our presence. We have uh J.R. Cosgrove, the Director of Public Works. We have Emily Matthews, the project engineer too. We have Joey McKinney, the water and sewer division chief, James Ritter, the Enterprise Fund Operations Director, and Cheyenne Nader, the project engineer too. And so if we can go ahead and have you Ruth before before we let's do the Pledge of Leaders, please. Oh, yes, I'm sorry, we're all off kilter here. One nation on your God, indivisible with liberty of justice for thank you. We're all we're all a little bit out of sorts here. Okay, so um if we could go ahead and have the Department of Public Works come on up and you can give your presentation. Good evening, everyone. It's good to see you all again. Tonight we'll be going through our water and sewer comprehensive plan for the December 2025 update, and just jumping into our memo. The background the Department of Public Works Water and Sewer Division has initiated an update to the county's water and sewer comprehensive plan to reflect changes in system conditions, growth patterns, regulator requirements, and planned capital improvements.

SUMMARIZED BY OPENPUBLICA AI

TRANSCRIPT VIA PUBLIC VIDEO
openpublica.com