Maryland’s Sustainable Growth Planning Principles (Principles) were signed into law by Governor Moore on April 8, 2025, following MGA approval of House Bill 286. The Principles create a planning framework that emphasizes Maryland’s land use and development priorities while also allowing flexibility in how they are applied by various users.
The Maryland Department of Planning (MDP) is creating resources to further support implementation, including the Sustainable Growth Implementation Guide (Guide), case examples, progress measures, and a resource appendix/index, which creates a central source for practitioners and policymakers advancing sustainable growth in Maryland.
Sustainable Growth Implementation Guide
This Guide has been developed to support the application of Principles in practice by multiple users across Maryland. The Guide provides deeper insight into the intent and understanding of each Principle, its benefits, relationship to Maryland’s priorities, and measures that will be utilized to support accountability and progress.
One of the features of the Guide is a new online dashboard which showcases all of the selected measures MDP will use to evaluate progress toward more sustainable land-use practices across the State. Users are encouraged to explore the dashboard to better understand how progress will be measured at the state level.
This online library showcases the very best of Sustainable Growth Principles in action across Maryland. Each case example details the full scope of the project and how it embodies the Sustainable Growth Principles. The collection will continue to grow over time and users will be able to submit their own Case Examples for review.
