Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. proposed in

Maryland Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. proposed in early February that the state’s Office of Smart Growth be abolished. Its sprawl-fighting functions would be carried on by the Department of Planning. Chuck Gates in the Department of Planning said five staff members would work on smart growth issues, compared with a high of 15 under Gov. Parris Glendening when the office was running at full capacity with positions borrowed from other agencies. “The real loss is the people that they just willy-nilly fired,” Dru Schmidt-Perkins, head of 1,000 Friends of Maryland, told the Baltimore Sun.