In March, the Southern Maryland Association of REALTORS® (SMAR) retained the services of American Strategies, Inc. and Myers Research to conduct a survey in Charles County to measure attitudes and opinions on land use, land preservation, and transportation policies. The statistically valid survey reached 400 adults, 18 years or older who are registered to vote in Charles County.
The top three concerns of survey respondents are transportation, protecting private property rights, and managing growth.
What concerns the voters most about growth is how it has increased traffic congestion on the roads. In terms of importance, 85% of voters are at least somewhat concerned about traffic congestion while 57% are very concerned. According to the survey, registered Democrats are the most likely to be concerned with traffic. When asked to rank their transportation priorities, 59% of voters support improvements to the existing transportation infrastructure while 40% favor the expansion of mass transit. When offered a range of choices, 46%, a strong plurality of voters, support the completion of the Waldorf Route 301 bypass while 33% support light rail as the means to reduce traffic congestion.
“It appears citizens want to see solutions to ease traffic now and understand that in order to do that we need a mix of infrastructure improvements in our transportation toolkit. In other words, plan for the long term with light rail and improve the road network now,” said Paula Martino, Government Affairs Director for SMAR.
When it comes to attitudes toward growth, a slight majority of those surveyed, 51%, favor “pro-growth” with men and African American voters most in favor of pro-growth land use and development policies. However, even as nearly the same number of respondents supported the need for managed growth, both groups are nearly unanimous in their disagreement on the question of should businesses and homes be built closer together to help achieve that result (36% strongly disagree and 63% totally disagree). This voter sentiment is at odds with some Smart Growth policies that encourage mixed use development patterns.
While many Charles County voters are open to the idea of land preservation, the vast majority surveyed (83%) do not support a County PDR (purchase development rights) program if it would increase taxes or reduce other county services to pay for it. In the end, the only viable solution for the voters surveyed is to have developers pay for the cost of land preservation through a market-driven TDR (transferable development rights) program. Notwithstanding the idea of land preservation, 71% of survey respondents also believe private property owners should be able to develop their land as they see fit.
“REALTORS® live in the communities where they work and listen to their neighbors and customers concerns abo