An Anne Arundel County Council member is proposing changes to county law that would make it easier for developers to build studio and small apartments, but more difficult to build family developments.

The measure, proposed by Councilman Chris Trumbauer, an Annapolis Democrat, would remove an exemption from the core of the Parole Town Center Growth Management Area. The exemption allows developers to build without measuring their projects’ impact on county school populations — something that is normally done to consider if a project could lead to potential school overcrowding.

The bill, instead, would add an exemption allowing developers to build residential developments, such as studio and smaller apartments, that don’t add children to schools. An exemption would also allow developments with 50 percent or more efficiencies and one-bedroom dwellings. Developers also wouldn’t be able to build dwellings with more than two bedrooms.

The measure is scheduled for a public hearing at Monday’s council session.

The bill is a partial solution to a larger problem — the county’s adequate public facilities law currently doesn’t consider various types of developments proposed; but instead considers the number of units being built and then generates a number of projected students, Trumbauer said.

There isn’t an appetite within the council to tackle the overall public facilities bill, he said, so this bill attempts to solve a more specific problem.

“This is a way to get rid of that [Parole] exemption and replace it with someone more incentive-based, which is important,” Trumbauer said. “I would love to see a future council take a good look comprehensively at the [adequate public facilities] law.”

The Parole Town Center Growth Management Area is 1,500 acres stretching across parts of Jennifer Road, West Street and Aris T. Allen Boulevard. The core of the area includes Annapolis Towne Centre.

An official from the Annapolis Towne Centre did not return a request for comment.

County growth areas are targeted for development, redevelopment and other economic growth initiatives.

When developers build in Anne Arundel, they have to pass tests laid out within adequate public facilities law. The law is designed to measure the impact of development on resources such as water, police and schools.

In the case of schools, potential projects must say what impact they will have on the population of nearby schools. If those schools are too full — a threshhold of 95 percent of capacity for Anne Arundel County — the developers have to pay for improvements, wait until the school has room or wait six years, whichever comes first.

Projects within the Parole Town Center Growth Management Area feed into the Annapolis High School. That school is at capacity.

Alex Szachnowicz, the school system’s chief operating officer, said the system doesn’t oppose Trumbauer’s legislation, but did not say the school system supports the bill, either, classifying the position as “neutral.”

He said school officials initially had some concern, but are now confident that caveats in the bill make it more certain that it won’t increase the number of projected students, he said.

“It creates a more refined classification of what can be built,” Szachnowicz said.

County Executive Steve Schuh has authorized millions of dollars in school construction, but the county still struggles with school space as population grows.

Councilman John Grasso, a Glen Burnie Republican, has been a vocal critic on the council with regard to school crowding. He has admonished the Schuh administration, saying the county executive has made it too easy to build in the county, resulting in congested roads and schools.

Schuh administration officials said developers are required to follow county rules; though they acknowledge the county could update some of its zoning regulations and have proposed legislation to do so.

Grasso said he isn’t sure if he supports Trumbauer’s bill yet — he said he wants to study it more — but did say he opposed developers building near schools that are already filled.

“I don’t want to loosen the ropes around the developers’ heads,” Grasso said. “I’m not trying to cut them any slack anymore.”

ccook@capgaznews.com