Anne Arundel County
Anne Arundel County is served by the Baltimore Light Rail and MARC Penn Line with nine stations. The Anne Arundel County General Development Plan - Plan2040 aims to facilitate a high-quality mix of employment, residential, commercial, and service uses near existing or funded transit stations. To achieve this goal, the county outlined the transit-oriented overlay policy calling for revising zoning and development regulations to promote TOD, developing strong multimodal links between transit stations and major destinations, incentivizing TOD through financing tools and, a streamlined review process. In addition, Plan2040 calls for developing and implementing transit station area plans to provide detailed guidance and specific strategies and actions to build compact, walkable, pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use areas near transit stations..
The major TOD planning and implementation effort in the county, the Odenton Town Center Development at the Odenton MARC Station near the U.S. Army’s Fort Meade base, is jointly developed among a private developer, the county and state. The 2003 Odenton Small Area Plan calls for the station area to be a high quality compact development with a mix of retail, office, civic, and housing uses to create a vibrant live/work community. As a state- designated TOD site, the Odenton Station Area receives state support for TOD planning and implementation and was established as a TOD District by the county in 2011. The market demand for TOD at this location is strong not only because of its proximity to a commuter rail line, but also due to increased job opportunities at Fort Meade, a BRAC site. However, the MARC line’s limited weekday peak hour service tempers that market demand.
Market demand for TOD at this location is strong not only because of its proximity to a commuter rail line, but also due to increased job opportunities at Fort Meade, a BRAC site. The planned short and long-term MARC improvements being considered in the Maryland Transit Administration's
Regional Transit Plan for Central Maryland will further enhance market demand for TOD.
Anne Arundel County’s other two rail stations, located near the BWI/Marshall International Airport, fall within the Airport Noise Zone, which prohibits high density developments due to Federal Aviation Administration height restrictions near airports.
Although Anne Arundel officials expressed interest in being able to provide affordable TOD housing, the county has no affordable housing legislation for TOD projects.
