SNOW HILL– County officials began reviewing Census data last week in preparation for an update of the Worcester County Comprehensive Plan.
County staff shared the latest Census information with members of the Worcester County Planning Commission last week. The economic and population data will come into play as the county updates its comprehensive plan, a process that will likely begin in the spring.
“I just want to have you start thinking about where we are,” said Jennifer Keener, the county’s director of development review and permitting.
Keener told the commission the comprehensive plan, which addresses future growth and community needs, would be updated to reflect recent data. As far as population, while growth was dramatic between 1990 and 2000, Keener said the 2020 Census showed that it had dropped off. The comprehensive plan projected population in Worcester would be above 62,000 by now when in fact it’s just 52,607. In coming years growth is not expected to exceed 1% a year.
“We definitely didn’t grow as much as we anticipated…,” she said. “Regionally we’re pretty much on track with where the other jurisdictions have been.”
Keener pointed out that the median age in Worcester was 50.5, significantly higher than the 38.3 and 38.5 state and national averages.
She said there were 22,661 households in Worcester County during the 2020 Census and that the average household size was 2.26 persons. Slightly more than 30% of the population lives alone in the household. Keener said just 22% of households had school-age children. About three quarters of the county’s 22,681 household are owner occupied while a quarter are renter occupied.
Keener said the Census data was something commission members would need to take into consideration as they updated the comprehensive plan.
“Some of the things you have to look at—where do we grow, where do we go, do we have the actual capacity,” Keener said.
She said the county was in the process of drafting a request for proposals to find a consultant to help with comprehensive plan outreach.
“The goal is to do more than just meetings, it’s to have the consultant design an outreach program,” Keener said.
She said she hoped that the consultant could be selected in the coming months so that the process could begin in the spring.
“The state has given us a loose framework of 2021-2024,” she said.
