Current Land Use Research
Promoting mutually beneficial land use planning practices in Maryland
PI: Brandy Espinola, Climate and Sustainability Program Director, Environmental Finance Center, University of Maryland
Co-PIs: Chester Harvey, Director, Transportation Policy Research Group, National Center for Smart Growth, University of Maryland
Additional Participants: Jen Cotting, Director, Environmental Finance Center, UMD; Medessa Burian, Assistant Director, Environmental Finance Center, UMD; Danish Kumar, Climate Change Program Manager, Environmental Finance Center, UMD
Duration: June 1, 2025 to May 31, 2026
Award: $125,000
Description: There is an inherent tension in land use decision-making between agricultural and open space preservation and the need for vastly expanded renewable energy infrastructure. Siting for solar, in particular, requires flat, open, well-sunlit spaces – land characteristics well aligned with prime farmland – which can create direct competition for land use. Examining this tension could not be more timely. Recent legislation in Maryland, including Maryland the Beautiful Act, which seeks to protect 40% of the state’s land by 2040; the Climate Solutions Now Act, which sets a target for 100% clean electricity by 2035 and net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2045; and, the Critical Infrastructure Streamlining Act, which simplifies the regulatory process for construction of high-capacity generating stations like those used by data centers, has set ambitious and potentially competing goals around these issues.
There is a pressing need to understand precisely where the points of conflict in these pieces of legislation are, how existing policies might hinder achieving these legislatively established goals, whether existing incentives to achieve these goals are sufficient, and what conditions allow for and motivate greater, more harmonious co-location of agricultural production, open space preservation and solar siting. This project will provide greater insight into best practices for maintaining agricultural production and preservation of open space while addressing the need to scale up renewable energy installations, informing decision-makers on how priorities can be reconciled as state agencies prepare for implementation.