Anne Arundel County’s development moratorium in the Baltimore City Sewer Service Area has been lifted.
County Executive Steuart Pittman announced the decision in a June 3rd letter to NAIOP. The letter cited an agreement with the Maryland Aviation Administration allowing the county to borrow unused sewer capacity from BWI Thurgood Marshall Airport.
The letter also included a determination by the Maryland Department of the Environment about the preferred method of estimating sewer capacity. County officials said that determination supported a reassessment of the peak-flow headroom calculations that led to the moratorium. The county’s commitment to long-term infrastructure improvements also contributed to ending the moratorium.
Although the county remained within its average daily flow limits, in late 2025 county officials recognized that peak wastewater flows, especially during wet weather, exceeded limits under long-standing agreements that govern use of the regional wastewater treatment system. A series of meetings with neighboring jurisdictions failed to resolve capacity concerns, so on March 2, 2026 the county issued a policy notice halting sewer capacity allocations in the critical growth corridor near BWI Airport.
Projects that already had sewer allocations could continue, but the viability of more than 20 projects in the development review pipeline was thrown into question. At least five projects in the queue filed administrative appeals challenging the capacity accounting methods and the county’s authority to impose the moratorium by simply issuing a policy memo. A work group of county officials, CREDA and MBIA industry representatives was convened to unpack the events that led to the moratorium and identify solutions.
In addition to borrowing unused capacity from BWI Airport, county leaders are advancing a broader, five-year, $60 million strategy that includes diverting flows away from the Patapsco Wastewater Treatment Plant, upgrading the Linthicum/Shipley Pumping Station, and reducing inflow and infiltration during wet weather across the system.
Lifting of the moratorium means that, in the near term, projects already in the pipeline that are ready for allocations may move forward. At least three projects are being issued allocations of sewer capacity.
The key takeaway is that the immediate moratorium has ended, but sewer capacity in this area should remain a closely watched issue. County officials have not disclosed the total amount of borrowed and recalculated capacity available to serve other projects in the queue, as well as future applications. Long-term capacity also depends on timely construction of the capital projects diverting flows away from the service area. Due diligence on utility availability, phasing, and entitlement timing will remain essential as the county works toward implementing a durable regional solution.