Baltimore County Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance Task Force

The Baltimore County Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance (APFO) Task Force, which the County Council created through passage of Resolution 76-20 on August 3, 2020, has been formed to study and evaluate methods to make improvements to the Baltimore County APFO as it relates to development and the need for adequate infrastructure, particularly public school facilities.

Generally, the APFO is intended to help the County balance development with the pressure that growth places on school capacity, and to provide a predictable planning environment for the provision of adequate infrastructure by requiring development projects to pass certain tests as a condition of development approval. However, in recent years, the Baltimore County Public School system has had difficulty addressing the increases in the number of students in existing schools in certain areas of the County resulting from increased development.

As part of its study, the Task Force will review the structure and efficacy of APFOs in other Maryland jurisdictions. The Task Force will also review the Baltimore County Master Plan, BCPS student enrollment and capacity data, Census data and population projections, reports from the Maryland Department of Planning, the Maryland Sustainable Growth Commission, and will hear from experts on the subject. The volunteer members will serve through December 31, 2020. The Task Force will report on the results of its studies, providing recommendations to the County Executive and County Council by November 1, 2020. At that time, the Task Force also will recommend if its work should continue and whether its scope of study or membership should be refined.

The County Auditor’s Office is providing technical support to the Task Force. The eight-member Task Force consists of five members appointed by the County Council, as well as three members designated by County agencies, and includes the following members:

Maureen Astarita, Principal, Parkville High School – representing the Council of Administrative & Supervisory Employees (CASE) (appointee)
Yara Cheikh, Partner, Creating Equity, LLC – representing the League of Women Voters (appointee)
C. Pete Gutwald, Director, Baltimore County Department of Planning (designee)
Julie Henn, Vice Chair, Board of Education of Baltimore County (designee)
Elizabeth Irwin, Baltimore County Deputy Auditor and Director of Fiscal & Policy Analysis (designee)
Jayne Lee, President, PTA Council of Baltimore County (appointee)
Lisa Norrington, Teacher, Patapsco High School – representing the Teachers Association of Baltimore County (TABCO) (appointee)
Rick Williams, Principal, Development Design Consultants, Inc. – representing the Maryland Building Industry Association (appointee)

The Task Force's schedule of meetings is included in the County Council's Monthly Schedule.

Below are links to the Task Force's meeting minutes and reports.

The following links are PDF files. You may review the PDFs online or download and print them. (PDF)