Centreville's supply of new homes is set by a sewer ledger. In November 2025, the Town Council found about 460 water and sewer allocations left and split them evenly across six fiscal years, which works out to 76 a year. Every new house, shop and car wash in town draws from that same pool, and more capacity won't arrive until the wastewater plant expansion is done. The Town's latest estimate puts that in 2031.
For a buyer comparing Centreville with other Queen Anne's County towns, the practical effect is simple. If you plan to buy here in the next few years, you are almost certainly buying an existing home or one of a small number of infill lots. Any large new neighborhood on the horizon is waiting on a treatment plant that hasn't gone out to bid yet.
The 76 Allocations Are Divided Before Anyone Applies
An allocation is counted in EDUs, or equivalent dwelling units. Roughly, one EDU is the water and sewer demand of one household. Under Centreville's policy, the 76 annual EDUs are sorted into categories with caps, and each fiscal year runs July 1 to June 30.
| Priority | Category | Annual EDUs |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Residential infill on vacant lots | 8 |
| 2 | Commercial or industrial projects with significant economic development or community benefit | Up to 38 |
| 3 | Residential projects with exemplary design and a range of price points, including some affordable units | Up to 30 |
| 4 | Other commercial or industrial, only if category 2 looks unlikely to be used up | Up to 15 |
| 5 | Other residential, only if category 3 looks unlikely to be used | Up to 15 |
Two details matter for buyers. First, standard residential projects sit last in line. A builder offering a conventional subdivision gets allocations only if the design-and-affordability category goes unused that year. The policy defines affordable housing as housing a household earning the Town of Centreville median income or less can afford while spending no more than 30% of gross income on mortgage, PMI, insurance, taxes and any HOA fees. Second, allocations a category doesn't use carry over to the next year, and the Council can grant future-year allocations that the developer can't use until that year arrives. That makes the ledger a planning tool. It can't create extra capacity.
The commercial lane is already in use. In April 2026, the Council approved 8 water and sewer EDUs for Blue Crab Car Wash after water-recycling revisions shrank its original request. That is a commercial project, not housing, but it comes out of the same plant capacity that every future home in town also needs.
Infill on Spring Street Shows How Slowly Supply Grows
The infill category is the steadiest source of new houses inside town limits, and it is small. On July 16, 2026, the Council approved a request from Lacrosse Homes for four water and four sewer allocations, one of each for proposed single-family homes at 116, 118, 122 and 126 Spring Street. The Town Attorney confirmed the allocations came from the infill category, and the applicant pays all required allocation fees.
The meeting fell after July 1, so those four homes used half of the infill category for fiscal year 2027 in a single vote. More requests are lined up. The September 3, 2026 Council agenda listed a 216 N. Liberty Street allocation request, and the October 1 agenda listed one for 351 N. Liberty Street. The agendas don't give the number of units or the outcome for either request, so neither should be treated as approved. Even so, the pattern is clear. Infill lots in Centreville compete for a handful of hookups a year, and the queue moves one council meeting at a time.
If you find a vacant lot in town and picture building on it, check one thing before your offer becomes binding. Ask whether the lot already holds a water and sewer allocation. If it doesn't, the timing of your build depends on how much of the infill category is left that fiscal year.
Providence Is the Big Neighborhood, and It Has Several Steps to Clear
The project that could actually change Centreville's housing count is the 279-acre Providence property. It sits between John Andrews Boulevard and Rolling Bridge Road on MD 304, across from the high school, and it was annexed into town in September 2024. It is zoned Traditional Neighborhood Development, a district the Town describes as calling for a mix of housing types, open space, parks, walkable gridded streets and design standards. A June 2026 county facilities plan estimates the site could hold 700 to 900 units, and it notes that because of the wastewater constraint, the build could be as much as 15 years away.
According to the County hearing record and the Town's September 17, 2026 letter, these steps have to happen in order:
- The County changes the site's water and sewer plan designation from S-6/W-6, meaning no planned service, to S-3/W-3, meaning service planned within 3 to 10 years. The County Commissioners held the hearing on August 25, 2026 and left the record open for four weeks.
- The Town approves a Regulating Plan for the TND.
- The Town and the developer sign a rights and responsibilities agreement with binding long-term financial commitments toward the wastewater facilities.
- The County approves a second amendment, to S-2/W-2. That step is required before water and sewer service and before the project can receive final approval.
As the Bay Times coverage explained, the current S-3/W-3 step doesn't grant sewer service or development approval. As of early October 2026, the research turned up no County vote on it. The Town's own letter says the planning process "will be lengthy" and that construction will coincide with the wastewater expansion. The same facilities plan says no plans for the other two farms long discussed for growth, Carter Farm and Turpin Farm, are before the Town, so neither has a projected start date.
2031 Is the Earliest Date, Not the Start Date
The plant timeline is what holds everything else in place. The existing plant is permitted for 0.542 million gallons per day, and the Town proposes adding 0.458 MGD for a total of 1.0 MGD. Under the plan, the current permitted flow stays on spray irrigation and the added flow goes to a proposed Corsica River outfall, subject to limits and approvals.
The project is moving. Maryland's Department of the Environment approved the Preliminary Engineering Report in September 2025, 30% design drawings were submitted in January 2026, and the membrane bioreactor preselection was finished in March 2026. In its September 17 letter, the Town said final design was nearing completion, with state review to follow, a construction bid expected in spring 2028, and completion in 2031.
Put the two timelines together and the answer is plain. Even if every Providence approval falls into place, homes can't connect to sewer capacity that doesn't exist yet, and after the plant opens, building a new neighborhood still takes time. The facilities plan says all major development inside town limits would be delayed until the expansion is finished.
What the Cap Means for Pricing Existing Homes
There is no public monthly data for ZIP code 21617 alone, so the closest current reading is countywide. Maryland REALTORS reported 80 closed sales in Queen Anne's County in August 2026, a median sale price of $565,000 compared with $544,000 in August 2025, and 3.8 months of inventory compared with 4.3 a year earlier. Bright MLS's August 2026 report showed the same 80 sales and the same $565,000 median. It differs on listings, counting 276 active listings, up 12.7% year over year, where Maryland REALTORS shows 278, down from 305. Both sources show homes taking longer to sell. Maryland REALTORS puts the median at 32 days, up from 27, and Bright MLS puts it at 37 days, up five.
The county numbers include markets with plenty of room to build. Inside Centreville's town limits, new competition for existing homes arrives a few lots at a time. A seller here is mostly competing with other resale homes, not with a model home down the road offering builder incentives. A buyer has a clear way to decide. Weigh the existing homes on the market now against what you would need in five or more years, because the new-construction option in town is limited until the plant expansion is finished.
Common Questions
Does an approved allocation stay with a lot?
The policy lets the Council grant allocations for future fiscal years, though the developer can't use them until that year begins. If you are considering a specific lot, ask the seller for the Council minutes that record the allocation. The Spring Street approval, for example, appears in the July 16, 2026 minutes.
Will the TND rules mean only townhomes at Providence?
No. Centreville's TND provisions, amended by Ordinance 12-2025 and in effect since October 8, 2025, require at least half of the units to be detached and at least three specified housing types.
Is the Providence Farm paving work a sign of new building?
In February 2026, the Council took up Ordinance 01-2026, which would authorize accepting Providence Lane, Portsmith Lane and Bristol Lane in Providence Farm Phases IV and V, and scheduled a public hearing for March 5. At the May 21, 2026 meeting, a council member passed along a resident's thanks for final paving work in Providence Farm. Those records cover finishing streets in the existing subdivision. They don't establish new house construction or relate to the 279-acre annexed property.
If you are weighing a Centreville lot, or deciding whether to wait for new construction, Tina Brown Homes can help you read the allocation records before you write an offer. We can check whether a lot already holds its allocation and how the town's sewer timeline fits your plans. Let's Connect.
