Easement

Dear Mr. Azrael: Before I purchased my home, it was an undeveloped lot in a residential neighborhood that was owned by the builder. A neighbor with property on the side and rear of my yard buried a PVC pipeline through what is now my back yard and common property of the homeowners' association. The pipe ran from his sump pump to the storm drain directly behind my lot. This pipeline was not disclosed at settlement and it encroaches on at least 20 feet of our property. It broke once and he fixed it. That neighbor is now moving and we want to know what our rights are in this situation.

Hikers may soon be able to walk on extended public trails in the Sweet Air section of Gunpowder Falls State Park in Baltimore County, and anglers may have additional access to the Sawmill Branch of the Little Gunpowder River. On Wednesday, Aug. 13, the state Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will go before the state Board of Public Works to request approval to buy a conservation easement on 209 acres of land next to that section of the park for $995,000. "We're very pleased to preserve this section of the park and at the same time provide public access," said Emily Wilson, director of land acquisition and planning for the state DNR. DNR is requesting the easement purchase through its Program Open Space, a nationally recognized program that acquires and develops recreational and open space areas.

State and county officials say they will try to buy an easement along the Jabez Branch to help protect brook trout living in the environmentally sensitive stream.The decision followed an hourlong meeting Friday between the officials and the owner of Holladay Park, a 141-acre tract that abuts the Jabez. South Shore Development Co., a family business that owns the tract, wants to build a housing development on the land.In question is which part of Holladay Park will be sold. Officials want to define the area they consider most crucial to protecting the fish.

The Senate approved legislation Thursday that will allow some renewable energy generation equipment to be placed on land that farmers have put under agricultural easements, sending its version to the House. The 44-3 vote would clear the way for farmers to enter into contracts with companies that produce energy from solar panels, windmills, chicken litter or cattle manure to use their land for those facilities in exchange for payment. Those payments would be on top of the money farmers had already received from the state for putting land into permanent conservation.

The Carroll planning commission has reduced to zero feet a required 100-foot water resource protection easement on a farm near the Pennsylvania line. The decision Tuesday effectively eliminates the easement, which would have protected a stream that runs through the 14-acre farm north of Manchester. The property owner asked the planning commission last month to lift the requirement after county staff ordered him to fence the area around the stream. He argued that the fence would make the only flat land on his farm unusable.

Dear Mr. Azrael: My home was purchased June 1999. During settlement our attorney presented us with a copy of our plat, known as lot 31, which clearly lists the curve in our driveway as encroaching on lot 30. In September the developer [planned] to construct a home on lot 30. Is the developer responsible for the encroachment to the adjacent lot 30? What legal rights do I have? The developer installed the driveway and encroached on lot 30, against the advice of the surveyor, before the house was placed on lot 31. Obie L. King Jr. Baltimore Dear Mr. King: Before the developer sells lot 30, you should obtain an easement agreement, giving you the right to maintain and use the portion of the driveway that encroaches.

A proposal to require protected areas around streams that run through new subdivisions in Carroll County came under fire from lawyers and land surveyors yesterday.The three lawyers and two surveyors who testified at a county planning commission hearing on proposed changes in subdivision regulations also criticized some language as unclear; predicted that the changes would replace the commission's discretion with rigid rules; and said that they felt left out of the drafting process and had learned of the proposed changes too late to suggest alternatives.

Anne Arundel Community College officials could place 50 acres of woodland in a conservation easement that would restrict future expansion of the Arnold campus.Officials told environmental activists last week they will consider placing the property under an easement with the Maryland Environmental Land Trust when the Board of Trustees meets this fall.The activists, including neighbors who regularly stroll the woods between the college and the Big Vanilla Athletic Center, worry that plans to expand the campus could destroy one of the largest remaining stands of forest on the Broadneck peninsula.

With deadlines looming for a projected opening date, the developers of a Victorian restaurant in the town's 106-year-old train depot got a reprieve from the Maryland Historic Trust yesterday on an easement problem that has plagued the project for months.Jack Saum of Eldersburg and Charlie Cullum of New Windsor, the restaurant's developers, have been unable to restore a section of the building's outside platform due to easement constraints placed on it by the trust."We were going to restore the platform, but the trust indicated we couldn't do that because a portion of our platform is 6 inches higher than the original, and they're requesting we lower it," Saum said.

Patience is more than a virtue for newly formed land preservation organizations waiting to purchase their first easement, James H. Eacker told members of the Carroll County Land Trust Wednesday night.It's essential to wait until the group finds a solid donor that will build respect for the trust, he said."You're a relatively young organization and looking for a project to do," said Mr. Eacker, president of the Howard County Conservancy, which was formed in 1990 as a private land trust to conserve agricultural property and open space.

A West Virginia-based gas company is suing dozens of landowners in Baltimore and Harford counties to gain use of portions of their properties for a $180 million pipeline project. In three federal lawsuits filed since January, Columbia Gas Transmission seeks to invoke eminent domain to obtain temporary or permanent easements on more than 400 acres for its 21-mile pipeline extension. The project, which gained approval from federal regulators last November, has sparked concern among neighbors about safety, environmental issues and property values.

Along Lyons Creek in southern Anne Arundel County are woods that offer perfect places for migratory songbirds to hide their young, native trees that provide a fruit buffet for critters, and marshes where ducks scour for snacks. One tract in the area recently took on added significance. When Pat Melville placed her land into a program to ensure that no development can occur on it, she created a milestone for a local nonprofit organization. Her 53 acres became the 50th property placed into a conservation agreement with the Scenic Rivers Land Trust, which is holding the easement jointly with the Maryland Environmental Trust.

In a deal some say could be a model for government land preservation in lean budget times, a wealthy businessman and former Anne Arundel County politician has agreed to give up development rights -- and grant limited but free public access -- to a 950-acre former wildlife sanctuary on the Eastern Shore that he bought 18 months ago. Robert A. Pascal, a former county executive and state senator, has offered to donate a permanent conservation easement...

Howard County's agricultural preservation program committed over the past two years to buy development rights to more than 1,000 acres of farmland, as a slow housing market helped boost landowners' interest in the easements. The county announced last week that all of the money in the program has been spoken for, and said a continued down market will likely slow the process of collecting enough to protect more land. The Agricultural Land Preservation Program - funded through real estate transfer taxes - allows agricultural property owners to apply for easements that would "extinguish the development rights and limit the use of the land," said program administrator Joy Levy.

SANDY SPRING -- For decades, the road was a lifeline for an African-American enclave in Sandy Spring. Residents walked on it to get groceries at the country store. They drove on it to gather firewood. They cleared snow off it and made sure water drained. The unpaved Farm Road, as it has always been called, is still there, a remnant of a long-gone rural life in this eastern corner of Montgomery County. But a government agency has now determined that, legally speaking, the road never existed.

The state has purchased easements to preserve two Baltimore County farms. The 97-acre Jenkins property, a crop farm in the 12400 block of Park Heights Ave. in the Owings Mills area, would be preserved under a $576,480 easement purchase approved this week by the state Board of Public Works, officials said. The board also approved an easement purchase of $264,110 for the 55.9-acre Zodhiates property, a tree farm in the 4200 block of Beckleysville Road in northern Baltimore County, officials said.

Carroll County needs an easement from Sykesville before it can build a pipeline from its planned $14 million water treatment plant at Piney Run Reservoir. But the town has tied its approval to the scheduling of a public hearing on the project. The Town Council refused yesterday to take action on the county's request to run an underground pipe from the plant to a water main on Third Avenue, a town road. Council members unanimously opted to delay their vote until the county commissioners meet with residents to discuss the project that has generated strong opposition throughout South Carroll.

Valarie Scott's Columbia back yard boasts all the stuff you'd expect in suburbia, and some you wouldn't. There's a patio, swimming pool and flower bed -- as well as three underground pipes that carry all of the jet fuel used at Baltimore-Washington International Airport and most of the gasoline, diesel fuel and home heating oil guzzled in the Baltimore region. The pipes -- 1 1/2 to 4 feet below ground -- are part of a Colonial Pipeline Co. conduit that stretches 2,700 miles, from the Texas Gulf Coast to New York Harbor, branching off at airports and the giant fuel tanks where tanker trucks fill up. Every day, Colonial says, about 5 million gallons of liquid fuel course through 6- and 12-inch pipes behind Scott's Luckpenny Place house.

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.

Seminar to focus on preserving land The Harford County Planning and Zoning Department will sponsor an Agricultural Land Preservation Seminar from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Nov. 29 at Highland Presbyterian Church, 701 Highland Road in Street. Presenters include Bill Amoss, administrator, Harford County Agricultural Land Preservation Program; Elizabeth Weaver, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program; Stacey Schaefer, Maryland Rural Legacy Program; Jay Young, attorney, Brown, Brown and Young; Brian Luttres, certified public accountant, Clifton Gunderson LLP; Molly Brumbley, general real estate appraiser, Farm Credit; Peg Niland, Harford Land Trust; and Debra Bowers, Manor Rural Legacy.