The Chesapeake Bay Critical Area Commission Regulations: Process of Enactment and Effect on Private Property Interests

In 1984, the Maryland General Assembly enacted several bills to restore declining water quality and habitat values in the Chesapeake Bay, the most controversial of which was the Critical Areas Legislation. This article, co-authored by the Chairman of the Commission, discusses the creation of the Chesapeake Bay Critical Areas Commission and the development of its regulations. The article then examines the constitutional issue raised by the Criteria's requirement that certain land areas surrounding the Bay have a density of no more than one dwelling unit per twenty acres. The authors conclude that this highly debated density requirement constitutes neither a "taking" of the property without just compensation nor a deprivation of property without due process.