The United States Census Bureau has revised the extended 2020 Census operational deadline, moving it up a month to September 30, 2020. Data collected by the Census has a tremendous impact on federal funding for critical services throughout the state. As a result, there is a renewed sense of urgency in getting the word out about achieving a complete count of every person living in Maryland.

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Each August for the past ten years, the Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) has hosted a new Salisbury University (SU) student intern at Planning’s Lower Eastern Shore regional office. A decade later, and in spite of a global pandemic, this year is no exception as planners Tracey Gordy and Keith Lackie will welcome the program’s eleventh student intern to the Critical Area Circuit Rider Internship early this fall. To celebrate this milestone, we would like to spotlight three interns out of all of the outstanding SU Geography and Geosciences students to come through the program.

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The Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) believes that addressing affordable housing begins with earnest local dialogue and focused visioning. Nationally developed data, state resources, and comparable best practices and examples are key inputs to a housing needs assessment and action plan, but planning for the housing needs of existing and future residents also calls for internal reflection involving a wide range of stakeholders.

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In response to the recommendations of the Governor's Task Force on Renewable Energy and Development, Planning developed the Solar Facility Siting Guidance webpage. The webpage provides information and tools to facilitate the development and adjustment of local land use plans and of recommendations with respect to solar facility siting to achieve local goals and objectives.

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As Maryland navigates through sheltering in place, reopening, pausing, and slowly reopening, we have seen traffic on major highways drop dramatically in March and April, bounce back in May and June, and stay largely flat July through today. In the meantime, although not shut down, public transit has been scaled back in most places and continues to struggle to attract riders; similarly BWI’s passenger traffic is still more than 80% below its normal level.

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The latest parcel points and parcel polygons are now available for download either by county (and Baltimore City) or for the entire state of Maryland. The statewide file is available as a geodatabase due to its large size. These files contain the geometries/locations of the points and polygons available in their respective current releases in MdProperty View/FINDER Quantum, linked to Assessments data from August 2020.

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Please join the Maryland Department of Planning’s (Planning) fall Planning Directors Roundtable videoconference on September 24 from 10:00 am to noon to learn about some of the initiatives Planning is working on and share your experiences of local planning during a pandemic. Join Secretary Rob McCord, Assistant Secretary Valdis Lazdins, and other Planning staff to discuss the latest topics.

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In last month’s edition of Planning Practice Monthly we told you about Maryland’s first ever WALKTOBER, a month during which the Maryland Department of Transportation (MDOT) and other partnering agencies will promote and host events and webinars spotlighting Maryland pedestrians’ safety, health, and commuting options in a variety of walk programs and initiatives, including Walk Maryland Day.

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The Maryland Planning Commissioners Association (MPCA) is holding its 37th annual conference this fall. The MPCA board invites you to join us on the Maryland Department of Planning’s GoToWebinar platform on Monday, November 9 (exact times TBD). The theme for this year is Contingency Planning and Resilient Boards, and the agenda will be filled with sessions on timely topics that Maryland's citizen planning boards face now and in the future. The MPCA believes citizen planners will play a central role in developing a more resilient future for Maryland.

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Cassandra Malloy joined the Maryland Department of Planning (Planning) in November 2019 as an Administrative Specialist III in our Planning Services Division where she is in charge of the herculean tasks of keeping our massive contact database up-to-date and making sure the tremendous number of links on our website remain current.

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In each newsletter, we highlight the most relevant and timely upcoming events. Our website does include many additional events, so please visit it regularly for updates. Listings are searchable by subject.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this section is temporarily suspendedFor More Information

Environmental Justice Communities: Best Practices to Deal With Natural Disasters 
Tuesday, September 15 @ 1:15 p.m.
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AARP Maryland Statewide Census 2020 Forum
Friday, August 28 @ 11:00 a.m.
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Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this section is temporarily suspendedFor More Information

FY21 Low-to-Moderate Income Energy Efficiency Grant
Maryland Energy Administration - Deadline: October 1
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FY21 Commercial, Industrial & Agricultural Grant Program 
Maryland Energy Administration - Deadline: January 12
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