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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
VI. Land Use
Introduction
This land use plan focuses on the pattern, distribution, and character of activities through 20401.
It is a guide to the use and development of land, showing the preferred generalized use of
every parcel within the Town. It is interrelated with many of the other elements discussed in this
report and some of the land use ideas and recommendations highlighted here are detailed
further in other sections. Land use recommendations for the municipal growth area are
provided in Chapter III and should be read in concert with this chapter to appreciate the full
scope of Centreville’s long range planning.
The land use plan guides commercial uses into downtown, along Railroad Avenue and MD
Route 213 and within the Centreville Business Park. It endeavors to make downtown a vibrant
center of economic, cultural, and civic life within the region. It seeks to enhance the potential for
the private housing market to deliver a variety of housing types to meet the needs and
preferences of residents of different income levels and life stages. It recommends open spaces
and seeks to protect remaining forests identified in Chapter IV. While embracing growth, it
seeks to sustain Centreville’s traditional small town character and charm.
As noted in Chapter III, Centreville will absorb an increasing share of household growth in
Queen Anne’s County. Over the next two decades, this is likely to happen through the
conversion of large tracts to new neighborhoods within the Town’s boundaries and to some
extent within the planned growth area. With the existing settlement pattern as a general model
for future development, Centreville should remain a relatively compact community within a
greenbelt of farms and forests.
Implementation of the objectives and recommendations of this Plan will occur in many ways, but
the most prominent way is through zoning. Following adoption of this Plan, a new zoning map
would be adopted, and modification of some existing zoning districts is recommended, as well
as the creation of additional districts.
1
A land use plan is not a zoning map. Instead, it is a guide to the use and development of land. The zoning map is more than a
guide, it is part of the Town’s laws and divides the Town into districts, each having its own set of use and development regulations.
While a zoning map is not a land use plan, it derives its substance and content from the adopted land use plan.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
Existing Pattern of Use
The term “land use” refers to the way property owners use land and therefore it reflects the
cultural, economic, and environmental character of an area. A land use map is the visual
expression of that character. Centreville’s existing land uses are shown on Map ___. An
overview of the existing pattern of land use follows:
Existing Land Use
Natural Resource
Open Space
Residential
Residential High Density
Institutional
Central Business District
Commercial
Office/LightIndustrial
Vacant
• As the County seat, Centreville is a center of governmental uses which are concentrated
in downtown around the historic courthouse and green. Downtown is also home to law
and other professional offices, restaurants, and shops. The downtown area is designated
“central business district” on Map ____.
• From the downtown core, residential neighborhoods extend westward along
Chesterfield Road and eastward between Water Street and Kidwell Avenue. These
neighborhoods are made up primarily of single-family detached houses but also include
institutional uses including churches and schools. Occasionally there are also
commercial uses in these neighborhoods, whose establishment predate modern zoning
laws.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
• During the past couple of decades, land further removed from downtown was
subdivided, creating neighborhoods such as Providence Farms to the west, Symphony
Village to the south, and North Brook to the north.
• Residential apartment buildings and complexes are designated “multi-family
residential” on Map __. Since adoption of the 2009 Community Plan, the east side of
Little Hut Drive has been developed as a multi-building apartment complex known as
the Willows at Centreville.
• The Centreville Business Park is a significant area of commercial and light industrial use,
including a community shopping center fronting Centreville Road (MD Route 213).
Business offices and light industrial uses are situated internal to the business park.
Existing commercial uses are shown in red and light industrial uses in purple on Map __.
Much of the business park is vacant.
• An institutional center is emerging along Railroad Avenue (MD Route 304) at its
intersection with Kidwell Avenue near the County middle and high school complex.
Since the adoption of the last community plan, the County has constructed its main
governmental office building there, the YMCA has obtained site plan approval for a
major indoor / outdoor recreational facility, and the County Board of Education has
appeared before the Planning Commission to discuss a conceptual plan to develop an
office complex.
• As documented in Chapter 3, there remains a significant amount of undeveloped land
within Town limits zoned for residential use. Nearly 280 undeveloped acres are zoned for
residential use. This land is shown in green on the map. There are also about 30 platted
vacant lots zoned for residential use.
• Lastly, the extent of natural resource land, including shorelines, wetland and forested
stream buffers within municipal limits is substantial. This land use reflects the presence
of underlying natural conditions. It is mapped and discussed in detail in Chapter IV of
this report and shown here in a dark green color.
Outside of Town, agriculture is the prominent land use. Scattered housing lots and residential
subdivisions can also be found throughout the countryside just beyond town limits. The Town’s
designated growth area is comprised of very large tracts of land. Each has significant
development potential, and with thoughtful planning and coordination, an interconnected
arrangement of open spaces and naturalized areas can be preserved for recreational use and
environmental protection. The planning goals for this area are found in Chapter III.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
The Plan for Land Use
This section of the Plan focuses on the future use of land located within the current Town
boundaries. This updated land use plan signals that Centreville will be especially intentional and
purposeful in its decisions about development through 2040. The term land use “development”
is defined here as the conversion of vacant land to another use and the redevelopment or re-
use of existing buildings and sites, in ways that advance the Town’s improvement, progress, and
enhancement as described by the Objectives incorporated throughout the Community Plan.
To ensure that proposed land use changes meet this definition, this Plan recommends that all
major proposals proceed through a deliberative process during which the benefits that are
delivered to the Town are investigated and established. The Town is receptive to allowing
flexibility where needed to achieve quality and competent community design, but where
individual proposals fail to meaningfully advance the Town’s development (as defined above),
they will not comply with this Plan and should not be approved.
Through 2040, May __, Future Land Use, and the supporting text of this Chapter are to be used
to guide the location, type, intensity, and character of development and redevelopment. This
means new land development proposals will be evaluated against this Plan.
Objectives
The main goal of this land use plan is that Centreville develops as a healthy, prosperous, and
beautiful town with a continual improvement in the quality of life for its residents and the vitality
of its businesses. The supporting objectives are as follows:
• To create a network of open spaces and resource conservation lands which will secure
important environmental functions, form the basis of a town wide recreational asset, and
promote community health, vitality, and scenic beauty.
• To guide future neighborhoods into patterns that encourage intergenerational
communities, instead of neighborhoods separated by age or income.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
• To foster an economically vibrant downtown, preserve its historic elements, promote
residential uses in and near downtown and link downtown to other parts of the Town
with an efficient system of streets, walkways, community open space, and public utilities.
• To foster continual real estate investment, the redevelopment of vacant or underutilized
properties, and the redevelopment or improvement of properties that do not contribute
to the Town’s overall wellbeing.
Future Land Use Map
Map __ shows the 2040 future land use plan. Each of the major categories are described below.
Future Land Use Plan
TND / PUD Open Space
PUD
Residential
PUD Residential High Density
Institutional
PUD Central Business District
Commercial
Planned Business District
PUD
TND: Traditional
Neighborhood
Development
PUD: Residential
Planned Unit
Development
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
Open Space
Areas planned for Open Space include improved public and private outdoor recreational areas,
specialized open areas like the Chesterfield Cemetery, and natural resource areas such as the
shorelines and 100-year floodplains associated with the Corsica River and its tributary. These
areas are, to the extent possible, meant to be protected so they can perform their resource
functions, like retaining flood waters, recharging municipal ground water supplies, and
protecting downstream water quality. See Chapter IV for a discussion of these resource areas
and recommendations for their protection.
Residential
The yellow areas shown on Map __ encompass existing neighborhoods and residential lots that
are primarily zoned R-1 and R-2. The primary purpose of the designation is to signal the Plan’s
intent that these areas be conserved in residential use and/or continue to be developed for
housing under approved plats. It also encompasses four of the five major residential infill tracts
that are discussed in Chapter III. As discussed later in this chapter, the Plan recommends that
these infill tracts be developed as residential plan unit developments (PUDs) with an overall
density approximately five housing units per acre. Supporting recommendations on Housing
can be found in Chapter VI.
As shown on Map ___ TND designation, standing for Traditional Neighborhood Development,
also applies to the Carter Farm on Chesterfield Avenue. The purpose of this designation is to
signal a preference for patterns consistent with pre-WW II residential neighborhoods that
feature a mix of housing types, open spaces, institutional uses, and possible small-scale
complementary commercial uses. The generally recommended form of development is a grid
street pattern with rear access alleys and strong pedestrian orientation where single-family
detached houses have shallow front yards.
Residential, High Density
The primary purpose for the “high density” designation is to signal the plan’s intent to conserve
existing multiple-family housing areas in residential use and promote other residential
neighborhoods featuring a variety of housing types. For the most part, this designation covers
existing townhouse neighborhoods and apartment complexes, zoned R-3 but it also includes
the Turpin Farm. The Turpin Farm is centrally located adjacent to the CBD and its development
as a residential neighborhood should support the economic vitality of downtown. The
recommended overall density of the housing units in R-3 districts is 8 housing units per acre.
Supporting recommendations on Housing can be found in Chapter VI.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
Institutional
This designation signals the Plan’s intent of keeping the existing institutional uses as the
preferred uses on those properties so designated. The Plan supports the development of
institutional uses such as places of worship, schools, nursing homes, and day care centers in
certain residential and commercial areas, and the Zoning Ordinance should continue to
accommodate them. The Plan recommends that an Institutional zoning district be established
and that the significant institutional properties, especially the publicly held ones, be rezoned to
this new district.
Central Business District
This designation encompasses properties within downtown where mixed-use development is
encouraged, and a broad array of commercial and institutional land uses would continue to be
allowed. The Plan also encourages residential apartments above commercial storefronts and
new residential buildings with densities that can meaningfully increase the resident population
in the CBD, such as one housing unit per 1,200 square feet of lot area, or about 36 units per
acre. More specific recommendations are provided in the next section of this Chapter.
Commercial
As shown on Map __ recommended commercial areas are clustered along Water Street and
Railroad Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, Centreville Road, south of Town and Church Hill Road
north of downtown. With few exceptions every lot designated on Map ___ for Commercial use
is already developed. The two main exceptions include the 9.8-acre pasture and farmstead
located on the north side of Delmarva Power at 2612 Centreville Road, and the 4-acre parcel at
Ruthsburg Road, opposite the high school which is owned by Queen Anne’s County. Both
parcels are zoned C-2, General Commercial.
The C-2 district is a general commercial zone. It allows retail, service and office uses and is
intended to provide convenient locations for local shopping. The district is located along
Centreville Road, the southern gateway from MD Route 18 to the Mill Stream Bridge, at the
northern gateway into downtown along Centreville Road and near the future YMCA site.
The other Commercial zoning district is C-3 (Intense Commercial). It is located on the south side
of MD Route 18 east of MD Route 213 and along Railroad Avenue from the Acme Shopping
Center to Pennsylvania Avenue. The east side of Pennsylvania Avenue is also zoned C-3.
Commercial uses including automotive garages, motor vehicle fuel stations, bottling and
beverage distribution, wholesale businesses and warehousing, and manufacturing are
permitted in the C-3 district. These uses, if located along Railroad or Pennsylvania Avenues,
could adversely impact the character of adjoining residential neighborhoods, and introduce
heavy truck traffic onto local streets. This Plan recommends that zoning amendments be
considered to promote more compatible commercial uses in these areas.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
Planned Business District
Intensive business and light industrial uses are recommended in the Centreville Business Park
shown in purple on Map ___. The business park is currently zoned Planned Business
Development (PBD) District which permits a variety of commercial land use activities.
Because only two other sizable commercial parcels remain undeveloped within Town
boundaries and their conversion to commercial use cannot be assured, it is likely that pressure
will mount to develop the remaining lots in the Planned Business Development (PBD) District
through 2040. This plan strongly recommends that space in the business park be reserved
primarily for major and intensive commercial uses that may not be compatible elsewhere in
Centreville and which can strongly contribute to the local economy and employment. The
business park is designed to accommodate large scale commercial buildings and site
operations.
Other Recommendations
Promote the Economic and Cultural Vitality of Downtown
Downtown Centreville, the central business district, is the institutional center for the Town and
Queen Anne’s County. It is also the traditional center for shopping, entertainment, restaurants,
and professional offices aligned with the downtown’s courthouses and governmental offices.
From a land use perspective, to promote the preservation, upkeep, and adoptive reuse of
historic buildings, the Town should consider incentives to encourage developers to rehabilitate
buildings and to incorporate residential apartments on the upper floors were possible. Where
feasible, without disrupting the historic character, this Plan encourages the development of new
mixed-use buildings featuring commercial at street level and residential apartments above.
Promote the Development on Complete Neighborhoods
This recommendation applies to the large infill development tracts as described in Chapter III;
generally, tracts of about 10 acres or more, which are so designated on the Future Land Use
Plan, Map ___. These tracts are intended for master planned communities with a mix of
housing types (single-family detached, duplexes, tri-plexes, attached houses, and apartment
buildings) and supporting non-residential uses, like institutions, parks, open spaces, and limited
commercial buildings under certain conditions.
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DRAFT Land Use Chapter, for discussion at the June 1, 2022
Planning Commission Work Session
To achieve this, this Plan recommends residential planned unit developments (PUDs). The
Town’s zoning ordinance currently has a PUD zoning district. It is a “floating zone”, which can
be thought of as a special zoning district that floats over certain pre-qualified tracts of land and
is allowed to settle down onto the tract upon request by the owner if approved by the Town.
Under current regulations, a PUD must go through an extensive process of meetings and
hearings, involving both the Town Council and the Planning Commission.
In an alternative approach, which this Plan recommends be considered, the PUD is not a
separate zone, but instead a set of standards that guide master planned neighborhood
development. In this approach, every qualifying tract, such as parcels exceeding 10 acres and
zoned R-2 and R-3 are granted, by-right, flexibility in certain pre-defined development
standards and are required to use that flexibility to achieve exceptional community design.
The main difference between the approaches is that the PUD floating zone requires multiple
Town Council meetings to review and approve the project because, in effect, legislation is
needed to establish the special standards for the district. By contrast, with the PUD-standards
approach, parameters for flexibly applying standards are set down within the text of the Zoning
Ordinance from the beginning and thus the plan review and approval function remains within
the jurisdiction of the Planning Commission. In both cases, the PUD provides the Town with
more discretion in the approval process and the developer with more flexibility in plan design.
It is this Plan’s general intent with either PUD approach to guide the placement, design, use,
and density of well-planned residential neighborhoods that can offer a variety of building types
and uses with optimal freedom to achieve great community design within the context of a site’s
location and special attributes. The purpose statements for Town’s PUD floating zone are set
forth in Section 170-28 of the Centreville Zoning Ordinance. This Plan recommends that they be
maintained, and activity implemented in the review and approval of future development.
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