A person making application after the effective date of this
chapter for subdivision or project plan approval, a grading permit,
or a sediment control permit for an area of land of 40,000 square
feet or greater, shall:
A.
B.
Comply with the following when cutting into forest cover that is currently below the afforestation percentages described in § 280-13A (1) and (2) of this article:
(1)
The required afforestation level shall be determined by the amount
of forest existing before cutting or clearing begins; and
(2)
Forest cut or cleared below the required afforestation level shall
be reforested or afforested at a 2 to 1 ratio and added to the amount
of afforestation necessary to reach the minimum required afforestation
level, as determined by the amount of forest existing before cutting
or clearing began.
C.
The use of street trees in the City with a tree management plan,
in an existing population center designated in the adopted Aberdeen
Comprehensive Plan that conforms with the Economic Growth, Resource
Protection, and Planning Act of 1992,[1] or in any other designated area approved by the Department
as part of a local program, under criteria established by the local
program, subject to the approval of the Department, using:
(1)
Street trees as a permissible step in the priority sequence for afforestation
or reforestation and, based on a mature canopy coverage, may grant
full credit as a mitigation technique; and
(2)
Acquisition as a mitigation technique of an off-site protective easement
for existing forested areas not currently protected in perpetuity,
in which case the afforestation or reforestation credit granted may
not exceed 50% of the area of forest cover protected.
[1]
Editor's Note: See State Finance and Procurement Article of
the Annonated Code of Maryland, § 5-7A-01 et seq.
D.
When all other options, both on site and off site, have been exhausted,
landscaping as a mitigation technique, conducted under an approved
landscaping plan that establishes a forest at least 35 feet wide and
covering at least 2,500 square feet of area.
A.
The following trees, shrubs, plants, and specific areas are considered
priority for retention and protection and shall be left in an undisturbed
condition unless the applicant has demonstrated, to the satisfaction
of the Department, that reasonable efforts have been made to protect
them and the plan cannot reasonably be altered:
(1)
Trees, shrubs, plants located in sensitive areas including the one-hundred-year
floodplain, intermittent and perennial streams and their buffers,
coastal bays and their buffers, steep slopes, nontidal wetlands, and
critical habitats; and
(2)
Contiguous forest that connects the largest undeveloped or most vegetated
tracts of land within and adjacent to the site.
B.
The following trees, shrubs, plants, and specific areas are considered priority for retention and protection and shall be left in an undisturbed condition unless the applicant has demonstrated, to the satisfaction of the Department, that the applicant qualifies for a variance in accordance with § 280-23 of this chapter:
(1)
Trees, shrubs, or plants determined to be rare, threatened, or endangered
under:
(2)
The federal Endangered Species Act of 1973 in 16 U.S.C. §§ 1531
through 1544 and in 50 CFR 17.
(3)
The Maryland Nongame and Endangered Species Conservation Act, Natural
Resources Article, §§ 10-2A-01 through 10-2A-09, Annotated
Code of Maryland; and
(4)
COMAR 08.03.08;
