Mike Rolband testified on behalf of NAIOP and NVBIA, and several land owners testified that in their decades of living on certain properties, their streams dried up most years – contradicting staff who determined that their streams were perennial, and thus included in the Resource Protection Areas (RPAs).

The amended Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance is effective as of midnight, Monday, November 17, 2003. Aggrieved landowners can appeal the RPA mapping decisions to the BOS.

The BOS, while passing the Ordinance, did request staff to report back on the mapping issues noted during public testimony (no specific date was requested), and incorporated Planning Commissioner Walter Alcorn's motions (passing unanimously on November 6, 2003) that were responsive to building industry concerns:

"Mr. Chairman, I would Move that the Planning Commission recommend that the Board of Supervisors request staff to review all newly submitted data following adoption of these maps and prepare a report on newly submitted data and challenges to the perenniality designation and the resolution of those challenges and furthermore make any recommended changes to the maps within 12 months of the adoption.

Further, I recommend that staff review the process for keeping the map up-to-date and report the recommendation back to the planning commission and board of supervisors, within 12 months following adoption of the maps."