Anne Arundel County Councilman John Grasso has resurrected a bill — defeated earlier this year by the council — that would stop development near almost-full schools earlier than current law.

The Glen Burnie Republican’s measure would halt development when school capacity in affected neighborhoods reaches 95 percent — rather than 100 percent, the current legal standard.

Closing off areas for development when schools are at their capacity, or are overcrowded, is is one portion of the county’s adequate public facilities law. The law aims to keep the county from outgrowing schools, police, fire, water and other resources.

Grasso’s bill would apply to elementary, middle and high schools. He introduced the bill earlier this year, but it was defeated in June by a 4-3 vote.

Grasso said concerns about school congestion prompted him to bring it back. The county has struggled with school capacity. Projected enrollment in 2017 estimates that 19 elementary schools and one high school will be at 100 percent or higher capacity.

Under provisions in Grasso’s bill, 33 schools — 28 elementary schools, two middle schools and three high schools — would be listed above 95 percent capacity.

He believes he has enough votes to pass it, though he declined to say who might have changed their mind. Votes against the measure last time came from Republican Councilmen Jerry Walker of Crofton, Derek Fink of Pasadena and Michael Peroutka of Millersville; and Democratic Councilman Peter Smith of Severn.

The Anne Arundel County Public Schools system supported Grasso’s last bill. Officials pointed to Linthicum Elementary School, which is projected to have 1,000 students in the next decade. It opened not long ago with a capacity for 489 students, and is projected to be at 97 percent capacity in 2017.

Chief Operating Officer Alex Szachnowicz said the school system again would support the legislation. Slowing down development near almost-full schools would help the school system catch up to development, he said.

“Think of the [adequate public facilities law] as a circuit breaker,” Szachnowicz said. “If you have a spike coming down the line, the circuit breaker sort of kicks in and allows a little bit of time to react to it.”

The reaction time is related to the way the adequate public facilities law works. When a school area is “closed” to development, developers can pay to increase the school’s capacity, wait until the capacity issue fixes itself or wait six years, whichever comes first.

After six years, if the school is still crowded, the developer can build.

Grasso’s previous bill was opposed by County Executive Steve Schuh’s administration. And Schuh hasn’t changed his mind.

He argued that passing the bill would slow down development without solving the root problem of growing capacities at schools.

Schuh has argued that his administration’s push on school construction aims to reduce the congestion of county schools. One of those projects, Crofton High School, is expected to have a capacity of about 1,700 students.

“We’ve not supported that initiative in past council sessions because we don’t think manipulating school capacity numbers is the right way to manage land and development in the county,” Schuh said. “The correct way to manage land and development is through the [General Development Plan] process, which we have already done.”

The General Development Plan is the county’s comprehensive guide for land use within the county. It establishes policies and recommendations of land use over a 20-year time frame.

The current plan was approved in 2009.

ccook@caspgaznews.com