Plans, Planners, and Aggregates Mining

Abstract

Planners often face disparate objectives in regulating the mining of aggregate minerals (sand, gravel, and crushed stone). In this article, the author uses the Baltimore-Washington region to examine how local jurisdictions manage aggregate minerals and the factors that help explain planners’ attitudes toward mineral protection. The study rests on a review of the region’s planning documents, examinations of specific planning practices in two counties, interviews of local planners, and statistical analysis. The author found that the sophistication of planning techniques for aggregate minerals ranges widely and that concern with mineral protection increases when both development pressures and resource supplies are high.