The Town of Easton invites residents, stakeholders, and the broader community to participate in an important planning initiative that will help shape the future of South Downtown Easton.

A multi-day public design charrette will take place April 19–23 at the Multi-Family Center at Easton Church of God (1009 N. Washington Street). This informative, collaborative event will utilize public feedback along with guidance from experts to imagine possibilities for the future redevelopment of the current UMMS Shore Medical Center site as the hospital prepares to relocate to a new facility off Route 50. Additional details, including the full charrette sche

dule, will be announced soon on our Sodo Subarea Plan project page, Facebook page, and the Town Website.

Charrette-style events are extremely effective at shaping the design of an area in real time by combining the wants and needs with the public along with statistical data and industry expertise. Their success hinges on strong public participation, with active attendance and engagement essential to achieving meaningful results.

The existing 14-acre property, a cornerstone of the community for over 110 years, occupies a central location adjacent to downtown and nearby residential neighborhoods.

“Calling this prospective redevelopment a unique opportunity is a bit of an understatement,” said Miguel Salinas, Easton’s Director of Planning and Zoning. “This is a once in a lifetime opportunity that has the potential to make a positive impact for generations to come.”

The charrette will serve as the cornerstone of the Town’s planning process, offering multiple opportunities for the public to engage directly with planners and provide input on the future of the site.

Salinas added, “This area is especially important because it serves to strengthen the connection between Easton’s historic downtown and surrounding communities. It’s important that we hear from as many residents and community members as possible, their input will play a central role in identifying appropriate redevelopment scenarios for this site.”

To support this effort, the Town has assembled a consultant team led by Seth Harry & Associates, alongside Townscape Design LLC and The Chesapeake Group. Together, they will develop the South Downtown (SODO) Subarea Plan, building on Easton’s ongoing work to complement its Comprehensive Plan with detailed small-area plans.

The Town of Easton encourages interested parties to keep up to date on our Engage Easton platform. Engage Easton allows residents to stay informed, track progress, and access project materials as they become available. Community members can also register for Engage Easton projects to receive updates as the project moves forward.

Formally recognized in 1710 by the Province of Maryland, Easton is the county seat of Talbot County. Encompassing over 11 square miles including almost two dozen public parks and open spaces, the town has a growing population of over 17,000 residents. For more information please visit: eastonmd.gov.

In the end, there wasn’t much for House and Senate fiscal leaders to argue about.

A conference committee between the two chambers wrapped up its work on the fiscal 2027 budget Friday in less time than the average Major League Baseball game. But the structurally balanced spending plan that heads back to both chambers for final approval Monday does little to resolve the looming gaps projected for next year and beyond.

“Every year we face some obstacle, whether it’s budgetary or something else, and every year we sit down, we do the work,” Maryland Budget Secretary Yaakov “Jake” Weissmann told reporters after Friday’s meeting.

“What you’re going to hear all of us say continuously, it’s not going to be January of next year,” Weissmann said. “We’re going to be having these conversations over the interim, working together and making the tough decisions to ensure Maryland continues to do what we have always done, which is balance the budget.”

Prior to the start of session analysts projected a $1.5 billion gap between projected revenues and expected spending in fiscal 2027. The $70.8 billion plan introduced by Gov. Wes Moore (D) in January erased that gap.

The governor’s budget — which Senate Budget and Taxation Chair Sen. Guy Guzzone (D-Howard) more than once called “pretty darn good” — contained no proposed fee or tax increases. Instead, it used a combination of fund balance transfers, cuts and swapping bonds for cash to close the gap.

Included in that is more than $282 million that was diverted from a green energy fund directly toward closing the budget shortfall. That plan repurposes another $100 million from the Strategic Energy Investment Fund (SEIF) — a pot of money set aside for green energy efforts — for paying down monthly EmPOWER program surcharges.

Lawmakers said the EmPOWER reductions will be a large part of the annual $150 in utility bill savings that homeowners can expect to see on their montly electric bills next year, a prime goal of lawmakers this year. Actual energy use and income eligibility could potentially increase that savings. Additional money will be available for other energy assistance based on income.

Other parts of the budget heading to a final vote Monday include another $20 million that will go toward child care subsidies.

The plan also calls for restricting payments for local governments and some state agencies.

It withholds $124 million in state aid to local law enforcement until each local department can certify that they’re not working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or immigration efforts, Guzzone said.

If lawmakers approve the budget as expected Monday, they will leave Annapolis with a spending plan that leaves $250 million in projected cash surplus at the end of the year. The rainy day fund will remain at $2.2 billion or about 8% of general fund revenues. The amount is greater than the statutorily required 5% of general fund revenues.

Looming in the future are billions in projected structural gaps that grow through 2030. Those structural deficits are driven primarily by rising costs of the landmark Blueprint for Maryland’s Future public education spending plan.

“To say that there isn’t a challenge and it isn’t significant would be wrong,” Guzzone told reporters after the conference committee meeting. “But that doesn’t mean that we give up on the vision and trying to accomplish what we wanted to do all along, and that is ensure that every single child can live to their potential and get the highest possible quality education they can get.”

None of the current projections take into account potential economic downturns.

Passage of the budget comes at the end of a process that comparatively speaking was without contention.

“It’ll be the fastest I have seen us pass and agree upon a budget and sent to the governor in my tenure here as a presiding officer,” Senate President Bill Ferguson (D-Baltimore City) told reporters Friday morning.

The plan does impose some tough choices, including a $127 million cut related to the Developmental Disabilities Administration.

Families held an 11th hour rally this week and called for restoration of the funding. But the DDA is plagued with cost overruns. The exponential growth in spending has pushed the system to the edge of potentially losing eligibility for a federal waiver program, lawmakers said,

The budget this year was forced to clear $350 million in deficiency spending over two years attributable to the DDA, and lawmakers learned this week that they had to find another $40 million to make up for the agency’s overruns.

The budget also sets aside millions for fiscal compliance issues including professional staff and a review of the DDA. The report is supposed to focus on the root causes of the spending growth within the program.

Republicans scored two modest victories this year.

First, the Senate conferees agreed to accept an amendment added by the House that would restrict nonprofits’ ability to receive grants if they are behind on state-required filings. Some reports estimate that there are thousands of such nonprofits to whom this would apply.

And the minority caucus added language that makes changes to the eligibility requirements for a vehicle to get historic tags. The Senate accepted a proposal from Sen. J.B. Jennings (R-Baltimore and Harford) to make any car 25 years or older eligible.

Earlier this week, the House stripped the amendment. But by Friday afternoon, it was back.

“J.B. Jennings is a persuasive guy,” House Appropriations Chair Ben Barnes (D-Prince George’s and Anne Arundel) joked as he announced he would agree to the change.

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by Bryan P. Sears, Maryland Matters
March 28, 2026

Maryland Matters is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Maryland Matters maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Steve Crane for questions: editor@marylandmatters.org.

Cambridge city commissioners approved a series of housing measures Monday aimed at improving rental conditions and addressing vacant properties, concluding a lengthy debate over how aggressively the city should regulate housing.

The most significant action came with the passage of an ordinance requiring inspections of non-owner-occupied rental properties. Commissioners said the measure is intended to establish a baseline understanding of housing conditions and give the city stronger enforcement tools when properties fall below acceptable standards.

“This is about making sure people are living in safe conditions,” said Ward 1 Commissioner Brett Summers, the measure’s sponsor. “We have to start somewhere.”

City Manager Glenn Steckman said the city currently lacks reliable information about the condition of many rental properties and needs inspections to identify potential problems.

“The purpose of this ordinance is to allow us to make sure every property is registered, but to start the inspection process,” Steckman said. “There is no baseline that we have in the community. There is nothing.”

Steckman said the program will take time to implement because of the number of rental units in Cambridge.

“It is going to probably take at least two years because there are that many rental units in the town to inspect,” he said.

Assistant City Manager Brandon Hesson said inspections are necessary because problems inside homes are often invisible from the outside.

“Code enforcement gets inside of otherwise perfectly fine properties that do not have violations against them, and we find that there have been fires inside or we find that the upstairs does not have heat,” Hesson said.

Commissioners spent much of the discussion debating whether rental properties should simply be registered with the city or formally licensed.

Ward 5 Commissioner Brian Roche said the ordinance should make clear that the city is granting landlords permission to operate rental housing and that permission can be revoked.

“A license is something that can be revoked,” Roche said. “It needs to be clear that what the city is granting is a license to operate when they have an approved registration on file.”

Commissioners ultimately amended the ordinance to clarify that the successful registration of a rental property confers a license to operate, which can be revoked if violations occur.

Another amendment extended the threshold for nuisance properties. The ordinance now triggers enforcement if police respond to a rental property three times within a 90-day period.

Roche said the change was intended to address properties that repeatedly generate service calls.

“I was worried that within any 30-day period there could be serious police violations and the shot clock would reset,” he said.

Ward 4 Commissioner Sputty Cephas said the ordinance was needed to protect renters who may be living in unsafe conditions.

“Our renters have no protection,” Cephas said. “There are no internal inspections.”

Cephas said some tenants tolerate poor living conditions because they fear losing their housing.

“There should never be a resident who feels like they have to settle for less,” he said.

During the public hearing, Cambridge resident Greg Boss said the ordinance was a step forward but argued that stronger enforcement mechanisms may eventually be needed to deal with absentee landlords.

“Ordinance 1264 introduces important tools, particularly inspections, but it also falls shy of an important opportunity,” Boss said. “Licensing systems use objective triggers to move a property into a conditional license when serious housing conditions exist.”

Boss said stronger enforcement could help ensure property owners respond to problems.

“That gets the attention of the owner because now revenue is impacted,” he said.

Another resident, Shanara Ramsey, questioned the need for inspections of properties that appear to meet existing code requirements.

“If you have a property and you have tenants and your property is up to code, and there are no complaints, why is there a need for an inspection inside your property, and then have to pay a fee for an inspection?” Ramsey asked.

Hesson said the city cannot rely solely on complaints because many tenants are reluctant to report problems.

“We only hear about the worst ones,” Hesson said. “We don’t hear about the people who are tolerating conditions that frankly are unacceptable.”

Mayor Lajan Cephas-Bey said that reality necessitates inspections.

“We have people that live in this community who are silent sufferers,” Cephas said.

Cephas-Bey said some tenants hesitate to report unsafe conditions because they fear retaliation from landlords.

“I know because four years ago I had a group of people knocking on doors and they said they did not want to complain about their landlord because the landlord worked with them when they were behind on rent,” she said.

Commissioners also approved a separate ordinance creating a registry for vacant residential properties.

City officials said the measure is aimed at hundreds of abandoned or deteriorating properties that have become a drain on city resources.

Hesson said staff recently identified hundreds of properties that appear to be vacant.

“On Friday afternoon, I landed on something that was about 502 properties,” he said during the meeting. “Those properties were cited for 610 code enforcement violations over the last 12 calendar months.”

Hesson said vacant properties are far more likely to generate complaints and safety concerns.

“They’re twice as likely to receive a code violation than any other occupied home,” he said.

Some residents raised concerns about how the city would define “vacant,” particularly for second homes or seasonal residences.

Ramsey said unclear definitions could lead to confusion or misuse.

“If I’m here a week out of the year, is that considered vacant or not?” she said. “It’s better to make things clear in the code.”

Commissioners ultimately approved the ordinance without additional changes, saying city staff would use discretion when enforcing the rules.

The housing measures are separate from a proposed vacant commercial storefront registry that Mayor Cephas-Bey vetoed earlier this month, saying additional public discussion was needed before adopting that policy.

City officials said the new residential ordinances are part of a broader effort to address housing conditions, neighborhood safety, and long-neglected properties in Cambridge.

Steckman said the programs will be funded through registration and inspection fees rather than the city’s General Fund.

“The idea of this does not come out of the general fund,” Steckman said. “The average taxpayer is not paying for people to rent their houses.”

City officials said the rental inspection program will be implemented over the coming months as staff finalize the fee schedule and begin preparing for inspections across the city.