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Frederick County commissioners on Monday changed the county's growth-control policy to make it more difficult for municipalities to approve new homes in areas that have overcrowded schools.

The new legislation will change the county's growth-control policy (known formally as an Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, or APFO) by requiring all municipalities to comply with the county's standard for school capacity when they approve new homes.

As a result, municipalities will not be able to approve new homes if the development pushes schools that would serve those homes above 100 percent capacity.

Before the decision, the county's 12 municipalities all had different growth policies regarding schools. Six of them (Emmitsburg, Rosemont, Woodsboro, Burkittsville, New Market, Middletown) did not have a standard for school capacity.

The other six have APFOs with different standards. In Mount Airy for example, elementary schools are considered adequate if they don't exceed 90 percent capacity, while in Brunswick the standard is 105 percent.

Municipal leaders have defended individual growth policies, and said that the commissioners' proposal would infringe on their rights to plan for development within their borders.

But on Monday, commissioners said they only want to ensure that municipalities have adequate schools before they allow homes to be built.

"This issue to me has never been about anything else but having adequate schools," said Commission President Jan H. Gardner (D).

Commissioners voted 4-0 to approve the change. Commissioner Charles A. Jenkins (R), the only commissioner who has spoken against the decision, was absent.

At the meeting, commissioners finalized the proposed legislation and determined which land and future development would be affected by the change.

Originally, the proposed change was supposed to apply retroactively to affect any project. But on Monday, commissioners decided that the new rules would apply to land that had been annexed into municipalities after June 23, when they started considering amending the growth-control policy.

"It is much more legally defensible to apply this to land that was within the county recently," said Kathy Mitchell, assistant attorney for Frederick County.

The new legislation would apply to three properties recently annexed into the City of Frederick: Summers farm, at the southwest corner of Mount Phillip Road and U.S. Route 40; the Thatcher farm, on the east side of U.S. Route 15 and Biggs Ford Road; and the Crum farm on the west side of Route 15 and Willow Road.

To pass the proposal, commissioners had to hold a public hearing and collect evidence that if the change is not adopted there would be "significant adverse impact on the public health, safety and welfare."

A supermajority of commissioners, or four out of five, also had to approve it.

Commissioners held their public hearing on Nov. 10 and heard from representatives of Parent Teacher Associations, who support the change, and municipal leaders, who oppose it.

PTA representatives support the change because it would ensure that students are not packed inside crowded buildings.

Municipal leaders told commissioners that the change would stifle development in their towns. Some urged commissioners to work with individual municipalities to find a different way to resolve the issue, rather than force legislation.

Others noted that of all 157 municipalities in Maryland, only 17 have APFOs, and six of them are in Frederick County.

Frederick Mayor W. Jeff Holtzinger (R) said he believes that municipal leaders in Frederick County may appeal the decision in Circuit Court.

Holtzinger said municipal leaders made an effort to come up with a school capacity standard that would work across the board, but they did not have time to agree. Unlike commissioners, municipal leaders seemed more inclined to draw the line for new development when schools reach 105 or 110 percent of capacity.

"There is no municipal leader that wants to see overcrowded schools," Holtzinger said. "... No one wants to see unchecked, uncontrolled growth in the county."

E-mail Margarita Raycheva at mraycheva@gazette.net.