The Streamlining Development Review Work Group convened for its first meeting on April 29, 2026, at 2:00 PM in Committee Room 2027. The meeting was called to order by the Chair, who emphasized the goal of balancing competitive efficiency with community voice. The work group is tasked with producing tangible legislative recommendations within a 30‑to‑60‑day fast‑track timeline, with a target adjournment date of June 26, 2026 (subject to extension). The primary agenda item was an overview of enabling legislation CR‑014‑2026 and a detailed presentation on regional development review processes.
All right. Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Streamlining Development Review Work Group. I appreciate everyone that is joining us to be part of this work group. As many of you know, it was something that was really important to me. I have heard loud and clear from both sides, right? From the industry around ways that we can be more competitive compared to some of our neighboring jurisdictions or our process. But as many know, um, I'm also an advocate for wanting to make sure that the community has voice in the process. And so the goal for this um work group was to have um representation from industry, community agency, um, to do a fast track uh work group for 30 to 60 days for us to think about ways that we can be more efficient and to move forward with a recommendation. Um, because a lot of times I know people feel like there's lots of conversations, but what really comes out of some of the work groups and task force, and many that meet with me know I'm very action-oriented. So I want a tangible piece of legislation to aiming to balance competitive efficiency. Hold on now. Okay, AI is always listening. Okay, it's about to give us a solution. Okay. So I definitely want to make sure we get a tangible solution now. I do I think we'll fix everything in 30 to 60 days and have a perfect piece of legislation come out that fixes everything. No, and that's not what my aim is. Um, this is just a beginning step. But know that if we feel like there's other things that come from this that we need to continue to have conversation about, I have no problem extending um for us to meet longer and for us to have other conversations on other areas, right? Um, but this is just a first step at us trying to make sure we bridge the gap between those two realities and things that we want to do. Um, so as we get started, I think the first thing we'll do is do we need to do attendance, or we just want to go around the room and let everyone introduce themselves, which makes the most sense. Um, Madam Chair, everyone should introduce themselves since this is our first meeting. Perfect. So we'll start with you, Ms. Hightown. We'll go around and end with um Karen Savakis. Hi, everyone. My name is Raina Hightower, and I'm the committee director for planning housing and economic development. Good to meet everyone and to see everyone. Good afternoon, everybody. Josh Hamlin, I'm legislative attorney for the county council. Good afternoon, everyone. Ariana Bead, director of legislative impact for the county council. Good afternoon, James Campbell. I am the land use and development specialist for the county council. Good afternoon, everyone. My name is Ray De Guzman. I'm associate director for Deep Bye. Good afternoon, Victoria Balastero. I'm a civil engineer with Guide Engineering. Uh good afternoon, everyone. Madam Chair Matthew Tedesco of the Law Firm of MacMeosey Land Use Council in the County. Good afternoon. I'm Greg Smith, and apparently I'm an environmental activist. That's why I call you. So my bad. Good afternoon, Marcusman. I'm rural representing the planning director's office. Good afternoon, Griffin Butt with the Maryland Building Industry Association. Thank you, Madam Chair.