Agricultural Preservation

Despite questions about a 1989 agreement with the county, about 95 farmers will be eligible for thousands of dollars' worth of bonuses for putting their land into the state's Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation.The Carroll County Commissioners voted yesterday to honor the agreement, which rewards those who preserve their land by paying them a percentage of the value of the development rights, in addition to money they receive from the state for entering the program. The agreement could cost the county up to $1.05 million.

As a follow-up to last week's observation that a plan to expand Harford County's development area is ill-conceived, it's worth noting that the county government has moved to spend $7 million on what has long been a fairly popular program: agricultural preservation. The program is one that bears a bit of explanation to those not familiar with the details. The owner of agricultural land applies to be included in the program and upon inclusion, sells any development rights that may be associated with the property to the county.

A historic Carroll County farm that belonged to former Communist Whittaker Chambers -- who figured in one of the most sensational spy cases of the McCarthy era -- received preliminary approval for agricultural preservation yesterday.The 202-acre farm, owned by Chambers' son, John Chambers, was among nine properties -- totaling more than 1,000 acres -- that the county planning commission recommended be included in the agricultural preservation district.The Chambers farm drew national attention in 1948, when Chambers produced microfilm from a hollowed-out pumpkin that purportedly tied former State Department official Alger Hiss to Soviet agents.

Bobby Prigel has started off on the right foot — with ice cream. He'll get to the bottled milk, cheese, butter and yogurt later. Right now, he's only selling ice cream, and the good stuff you can make with ice cream, like milkshakes. I got a call on Saturday from Steve Belkoff, a Prigel supporter. He had his first Prigel milkshake in hand, took a sip while he was on the phone with me, and declared it delicious. You can't go wrong if you start with ice cream. After a long, unfortunate and costly legal battle with some of his Long Green neighbors in Baltimore County, Bobby Prigel has opened his organic creamery for operations.

THANKS TO Ridgely Jones, farmland isn't a memory in Howard County. Agriculture will never return to its glory days before the rapid encroachment of suburbia. But the fields will always sprout corn, soybeans -- even bok choy.That's because Mr. Jones was such a forceful advocate for agriculture through the years when developers were falling over one another to gobble up land to build increasingly expensive homes in western Howard County.Mr. Jones died last week at the age of 83 of congestive heart failure at his 300-acre farm in West Friendship.

Michigan might have more than 100 times the farmland Harford County has, but that doesn't mean the Great Lakes State can't learn about land use here. Michigan Gov. Jennifer M. Granholm made a stop for dinner at Highland Presbyterian Church in Street on Friday during an Ultimate Farmland Preservation tour sponsored by several farm groups. The five-day trip is taking participants through Montgomery, Carroll and Harford counties, as well as parts of New Jersey and Pennsylvania. With agricultural preservation programs dating back more than two decades, Maryland can be a model for places like Michigan, now trying to save its rural areas from overdevelopment, Granholm said.

A free Agricultural Land Preservation Seminar will be held from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. March 7 at the Harford County Cooperative Extension Office, 2335 Rock Spring Road, Forest Hill. The scheduled speakers are Jay Young, a lawyer with Brown, Brown and Brown; Aimee O'Neill, a real-estate appraiser from O'Neill's Auction; and Bill Amoss, administrator of the Harford County agricultural land preservation program. Among the topics expected to covered are: Identifying the various agricultural preservation easement programs.

A historic Carroll County farm that belonged to former Communist Whittaker Chambers -- a player in one of the most sensational spy cases of the McCarthy era -- received preliminary approval for agricultural preservation yesterday.The 202-acre farm now owned by Chambers' son, John Chambers, was among nine properties -- totaling more than 1,000 acres -- the county planning commission recommended be included in the agricultural preservation district.The Chambers' farm drew national attention in 1948, when Chambers dramatically produced microfilm from a hollowed-out pumpkin that purportedly tied former State Department official Alger Hiss to Soviet agents.

Commissioners to consider creating preservation district The Carroll County commissioners will hold a public hearing at 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in Room 300A of the Carroll County Office Building to consider a petition to establish an Agricultural Preservation District and to purchase an option for an Agricultural Preservation Easement on a property being considered for district approval. The commissioners will consider petition No. 0495, Thomas E. McKenzie and Nancy A. McKenzie (contract purchasers)

The County Commissioners will hold a public hearing at 11:15 a.m. today at the County Office Building to consider petitions for Agricultural Preservation Districts. The following petitions for agricultural preservation will be considered: Philip D. and Rita L. Bassler, contract purchasers for 107 acres at 3165 Hyser Road in Taneytown. Gary M., Thomas F. and Douglas F. Dell, contract purchasers for 70.8 acres at 1029 Lucabaugh Mill Road in Westminster. Aubrey Dewitt and Ruth Ellen Maring, for 72.78 acres at 2236 Gillis Road in Woodbine.

A plan to cluster development in one corner of historic Doughoregan Manor while preserving the rest of the once-vast Colonial estate received final, unanimous approval from the Howard County Council late Thursday. The complex plan would provide more than $19 million over two decades in agricultural preservation money to Camilla and Philip D. Carroll, descendants of Charles Carroll of Carrolton, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. They have said they intend to use the money to restore the remainder of the 892-acre estate and keep it in the family.

Howard County is preserving 662 more acres of farmland from development, including a key 500-acre chunk of historic Doughoregan Manor — the second-largest block of land to enter preservation in the history of the county's Agricultural Preservation program. Another 107-acre farm in Woodbine is set for a County Council preservation vote this month. The Doughoregan move is part of a complex deal with county officials that would allow the Carroll family, owners of the estate since Colonial times, to develop 325 new homes clustered in the northeast corner of the 892-acre estate and preserve nearly all the rest of the land.

The largest group of Howard County landowners in years sought to preserve their farmland forever in the Agricultural Preservation application period that just ended, according to Joy Levy, program administrator. "We are pretty thrilled" at the big response, Levy said. Thirteen landowners are seeking to sell to the county development rights on 1,427 acres, which is probably more than the county can afford right now, Levy said. That compares with three farmers who preserved 247 acres in 2007, the last time the county took applications - just after the maximum price per acre doubled to $40,000.

Article on car lot missed key point Larry Carson's article Feb. 1 on the effort of Concerned Citizens of Western Howard County to block development of a used car lot in Daisy missed one important point our community organization has been making about the need for rezoning in the county's rural west. That point is that if rezoning had been done by the county when it should have been done, we would not be fighting a proposal to build a used car lot in a rural community where the General Plan in 1990 and 2000 said such large-scale commercial development is impractical and undesirable outside of five designated rural growth areas, of which Daisy is not one. The problem was created by the failure in the 2003-04 comprehensive rezoning process to follow policy set in the 2000 General Plan that was adopted to protect the rural character and resources of the county's largest remaining area of agricultural preservation, rural conservation and rural residential land - nearly 70,000 acres.

After a lifetime in farming, 67-year-old Andrew Lohr wants to retire. He probably could sell his nearly 100-acre farm in Churchville for development but instead accepted an offer from Harford County. Lohr will place the property in Harford's agricultural preservation program. "I am putting all the land I own in preservation, in perpetuity," he said. "Perpetuity, I like that word." Lohr is one of 13 property owners who will join the Harford or state preservation programs this year. The County Council is considering an additional 10 farms for preservation and is expected to approve those next month.

After going without any takers for five years, Howard County's agricultural preservation program has succeeded in enticing three farmers to participate by doubling the maximum per-acre price. Calvin Murray, 83, whose family has farmed in Howard County for generations, will sell the development rights on 166.3 acres to the county for $40,000 an acre - twice as much as he could have gotten last year. His parents bought the Mount Airy-area farm he lives on for $75 an acre in 1919, he said.

Carroll's farmland preservation program received parcels totaling 1,484 acres yesterday in one of its largest acquisitions of the decade when the County Commissioners approved keeping the sites free of development for at least five years.Twelve parcels, ranging from 25 acres to 172 acres, were recommended for designation as agricultural preservation districts, the first step needed to preserve the land permanently.Commissioners Donald I. Dell and Richard T. Yates voted in favor of the proposal.

William Powel, Carroll County's agricultural preservation coordinator, tried to explain transfers of development rights to about 45 people last night.But the discussion kept getting mired in questions of whether the program is worth pursuing."This should have started when we brought in the concept of zoning," said Westminster farmer Donald Essich, arguing that county residents will not accept higher density in exchange for saving local farms. "This is too late."Transfers of development rights, similar to agricultural preservation programs, allow land owners to sell easements and permanently maintain their property as open space.

Land preservation seminar planned The Harford County Department of Planning and Zoning will hold an Agricultural Land Preservation Seminar from 8 a.m. to noon March 30 at Highland Presbyterian Church, 701 Highland Road in Street. The speakers will be David Thompson, chairman of the Agricultural Preservation Advisory Board; Bill Amoss, administrator for the Harford County Agricultural Preservation Program; Jay Young, an attorney with Brown, Brown & Young; and Brian Lutters, a certified public accountant with Clifton Gunderson LLP. Topics will include county rural land-use goals, land preservation easement options, partnerships with land trusts, land preservation and estate planning; and land preservation income tax tools.

With five properties annexed in the past year - and two pending - two Westminster City Council members want to set up standards that regulate annexations. Councilman L. Gregory Pecoraro, who will head a committee with Councilman Robert P. Wack, said they would offer recommendations over the next two months so the city could adopt a resolution for these standards by the end of the summer. "We don't want to keep reacting to things coming," Pecoraro said. "We want a plan to figure out how this will fit into our vision of the city.