Before a developer builds in Anne Arundel County, they must study the surrounding roads to ensure they can handle any additional traffic and pay for needed infrastructure improvements.

The county was poised to require developers similarly to pony up for sidewalks, bike trails and public transit under a bill advanced by County Executive Steuart Pittman.

But the ambitious and complicated legislation frustrated the County Council, which only had 95 days — that’s the lifespan of a bill in the county — to workshop something that Pittman’s administration studied for five years.

Council members and developers, concerned that the measure as originally crafted would jack up the construction costs and thus housing prices, pushed back.

Faced with the prospect that a piece of landmark legislation would not pass, Pittman’s administration significantly amended the bill so that multimodal transportation still takes a back seat to cars and trucks when building in suburban Anne Arundel.

The council will vote Monday night on the watered-down version of the transportation bill. It’s expected to pass along party lines, with Democrats supporting the bill and Republicans opposed.

Pittman, in a statement, said the measure still “represents a fundamental change in the way that we support bicycle, pedestrian, and transit infrastructure.”

“It replaces outdated, road-focused policies and requires new developments to invest in the improvements that our communities need,” said Pittman, a Democrat entering his final year in office. “The result is less traffic on our roads, and safer, more connected communities.”

Councilman Nathan Volke called Pittman out for walking back the bill, even though the Pasadena Republican opposed it from the start.

“The problem that I have is that it seems like the administration is willing to do anything to get this bill to the finish line. They are willing to move on [from] things that they looked at as must-haves in the original bill,” Volke said. “I’m not sure if this bill actually does anything or if the administration is just looking for a feather in their cap.”

Volke and Councilwoman Amanda Fiedler, a Republican who represents Severna Park and Broadneck, criticized Pittman’s administration for what they described as a lack of transparency around the five-year workgroup that created the bill.

Both, however, agree with one of the legislation’s key tenets: Updating the way the developers are required to analyze their impact on traffic.

The test that developers use to assess a proposed community’s impact on roads has existed in the county code for 20 years.

If the analysis finds that roads are inadequate for the development, the builder has to pay to improve them. That’s not changing.

According to Pittman’s administration, the traffic test is being modernized, in part, by considering where a development would be built.

“Hopefully with that put in, we’ll have more accurate traffic counts,” said Councilwoman Julie Hummer, a western Anne Arundel Democrat.

In 2018, the council added a requirement for a separate study of a proposed development’s strain on bicycle, pedestrian and public transit infrastructure, and capped what developers must pay for such improvements to $330 per housing unit.

Pittman’s bill would originally have combined the studies, requiring developers to pay the full cost of building bike trails and walking paths.

Even some of Pittman’s council allies were concerned about that idea.

“We’ve got the MARC train and we’ve got some light rail, but we’re not a county that has the Metro going through it like Prince George’s [County] or Montgomery County,” Councilwoman Allison Pickard said. “When you think about transit hubs and getting people out of their cars, we don’t have the same bones as some of the larger counties do.”

The Glen Burnie Democrat, who is running to succeed Pittman, also expressed dismay about the added development costs.

The original bill required developers to improve pedestrian traffic a mile in every direction, which, Pickard said, would have added tens of thousands of dollars to the cost of individual residences — exacerbating the county’s affordable housing crisis.

“All of that would’ve been passed on to the consumer,” she said.

Pittman’s administration walked back that provision, keeping the analysis of roads separate from reviews of bicycle, pedestrian and transit infrastructure. It raised the cap for improving such trails and sidewalks to $425 per housing unit, saying that increase accounted for inflation.

The bill’s dilution disappointed advocates for multimodal transportation.

Jon Korin, president of Bicycle Advocates For Annapolis And Anne Arundel County, was part of the five-year workgroup. He said the amendments “drastically watered down the original intent of the bill.”

“I’ll take the baby steps,” Korin said. “But don’t check the box and say, ‘We took care of multimodal transportation. What’s next?’”

The bill includes incentives for developers to build bike paths and sidewalks. If builders construct infrastructure beyond what is required, the county would give them a credit for 125% of that cost against fees that come later in the development process.

Korin and Hummer said the marketplace already provides incentives for building with an eye beyond cars.

“Bike paths and walking trails are a selling point,” Hummer said. “It’s not a detriment to housing, I think that’s what people are looking for. I think they’ll pay for it.”

A 2025 study found that more than 96% of approximately 600,000 Anne Arundel residents take cars to work or work at home. About 2% walk, bike or take public transportation.

Korin said fewer people would drive if the multimodal transportation infrastructure was better.

“A person who has a choice to walk, bike or drive somewhere, their choice is only as good as the worst place they have to traverse,” Korin said.

The Anne Arundel County Chamber of Commerce opposes the legislation, viewing it as unfriendly to business. The Anne Arundel County Association of Realtors was against the original bill, too, but has softened its position.

Max Gross, the association’s director of government affairs, said Pittman shouldn’t have advanced sweeping legislation ahead of the 2026 campaigns for county executive and County Council, which he described as a “housing election.”

“I’d kind of like to punt on the issue and let the election decide what we’re going to do when it comes to housing in Anne Arundel County,” Gross said. “We could get a much better, comprehensive, cohesive outcome if we didn’t take a landmark bill and strip it down and amend it and create a patch job.”