Easement

The Carroll commissioners will decide today whether to add 657.35 acres - mostly near Taneytown and Lineboro - to the state's farmland preservation program. The commissioners will vote after a public hearing on the petitions to add nine parcels to the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program. Carroll's planning commission and the county's Agricultural Preservation Board have recommended approving the petitions. If the commissioners approve the petitions, the decision on the parcels would go before the board of the State Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation on April 24 for final approval for designation in the program.

Two recent County Council decisions could help increase the number of groups authorized to monitor open space land in western Howard County, but county planners say it's too early to tell whether the actions will offer relief to developers stymied by county land-preservation regulations.Under a relatively untested plan to save open space by clustering new homes and preserving large tracts of undeveloped land, the preserved tracts were to be monitored by two entities, each holding an easement giving it the right to prevent the property from being developed.

At least three-fifths of the county's largest and perhaps most historic property won't be marred by development, the current descendants of Charles Carroll of Carrollton said last night.John Lee Carroll told the Howard County Agricultural Land Preservation Board last night that "development is not on our minds" after thanking the panel for approving 315 acres of the 2,150-acre Doughoregan Manor property for entry into the county's farmland preservation program.The board agreed to pay $6,000 an acre for an easement prohibiting development forever.

None of the nearly 50 people who attended the Anne Arundel Community College Board of Trustees meeting Tuesday night were completely opposed to the school's plans to expand onto 23 acres nearby.But few could agree on what to do with an additional 40 acres the college doesn't need for now.Some wanted the college to place it in a permanent conservation easement. Others urged the school to plan for the long term as well as the immediate future."Do recognize the uniqueness of this parcel," said James E. Gutman, a member of the Magothy River Association who said he was speaking only for himself.

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 Severn River Land Trust has taken over a conservation easement on 19.6 acres along the Severn River near Arnold.The area, which includes steep wooded slopes near Pine Lane, had been in an easement held by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation since 1980. The foundation turned it over to the local land trust because foundation officials felt the trust could better monitor the site.The easement, originally conveyed to the foundation by Pine Lane Associates, limits development to seven houses. Keeping the waterfront wooded prevents the soil from eroding into the Severn River.

The county Historic Preservation Commission is worried about the effects four state highway improvement projects could have on four historic properties.Sallie Van Rennselaer, chairman of the county commission, sent the commission's concerns to Delegate Rosemary Hatem Bonsack, D-District 34, earlier this month."The last delegation made plans with the state roads department,and we were always fighting them after the decision was made," Van Rennselaer said last week."We wanted to make this delegation awarewe'd like to be in on the process, so we can work with them."

Does the idea of living in a turreted Victorian with wraparound porches dance in your head, but you can't imagine tackling all the restoration needs of an old house?Have you found a striking, but rundown Early American townhouse for sale, but can't get financing for both the purchase price and restoration costs?Does your home miraculously have most of its 1910 Arts and Crafts interior intact, but you don't how to protect it for generations to come?The Maryland Historical Trust may have the answer -- and the answer may save you a great deal of money.

A Finksburg construction company won a reduction in county forest conservation ordinance requirements yesterday, but it will have to plant trees rather than put existing woods into a preservation easement as its representatives had proposed.The county commissioners agreed with part of Kibler Construction Co.'s argument in the first appeal of a variance decision in the 16-month history of the forest conservation ordinance.Diana Coyne, office manager, said the decision satisfied construction company officials.

Harford County's long-term commitment to preserving farmland as an environmental amenity was reinforced by the County Council's recent approval of spending $7.4 million over the next two decades to purchase development rights of 3,115 acres on 10 farms.The county's latest purchase of agricultural easements brings to 5,300 acres the amount of agricultural land protected from any type of development activity. A similar state farmland easement program protects another 8,000 rural acres in Harford County.