After adopting the transportation element of a comprehensive plan, a planning commission periodically may: conduct surveys to locate street lines and any other part of the transportation element; and make a reservation plat of the area surveyed, showing the land that the planning commission recommends be reserved for future dedication or acquisition as public streets and any other part of the transportation element.

On approval and adoption of a plat, streets located on the plat are reserved for future acquisition for public use. The approval and adoption of a plat does not constitute the establishment of a street or acquisition of any land to create a street, public use, or public improvement.

Before adopting a plat, a planning commission shall hold a public hearing on the plat. At least 10 days before the public hearing, the planning commission shall publish a notice of the time and place of the hearing, with a general description of the area covered by the plat, in a newspaper of general circulation in the local jurisdiction in which the area is located.

After the public hearing under § 6–103 of this subtitle, the planning commission may transmit the plat, as originally made or as amended by the planning commission, to the legislative body with the planning commission’s estimate of the schedule by which the local jurisdiction should acquire the reserved land. After receiving the plat from the planning commission, the legislative body, by resolution, may: approve and adopt the plat; disapprove the plat; modify the plat with the approval of the planning commission; or adopt a modified plat, notwithstanding the prior disapproval of the modification by the planning commission, with a favorable vote of at least two–thirds of the entire membership of the legislative body. In the resolution adopting the plat, the legislative body shall establish the period for which land is to be reserved under § 6–102 of this subtitle. After the plat is adopted, the clerk of the legislative body shall: transmit one attested copy of the plat to the clerk of the circuit court of each county in which the platted land is located; and keep one copy of the plat for public examination.

A planning commission may negotiate for or secure from the owner of reserved land: a release of claims for damages or compensation for the reservation of the land; or an agreement indemnifying the local jurisdiction from claims by others for damages or compensation. A negotiated release or agreement shall bind the landowner executing the release or agreement and the landowner’s successors in title.

At any time after the filing of a plat with the clerk of the circuit court of the county and during the period specified for the reservation, a planning commission and the owner of reserved land may agree to modify the location of the lines of a proposed street. An agreement to modify the location shall include a release by the landowner of any claim for compensation or damages caused by the modification. After the release is executed, the planning commission may make a plat corresponding to the modification and transmit the plat to the legislative body for approval. If the legislative body approves the modified plat, the clerk of the legislative body shall transmit an attested copy of the modified plat to the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the local jurisdiction is located. The modified plat shall supersede the original or prior plat.

The legislative body, by resolution, may abandon a reservation and certify the abandonment to the clerk of the circuit court of the county in which the local jurisdiction is located.