Farm Preservation

In a setback for Howard County's farmland preservation program, the University of Maryland has backed away from its plan to sell the government development rights to its 900-acre research farm in the heart of the county.Ray Miller, vice chancellor for agriculture and natural resources, said yesterday that "it became very obvious that certain political forces are not interested in funds going from one governmental agency to another." He declined to elaborate.In addition, he said, the university was informed by its lawyers that the county's farmland preservation program might place restrictions on future expansion of the university's Central Maryland Farm Research and Education Center.

WESTMINSTER - The Carroll County Commissioners approved 23 properties for the farmland preservation program last week, but only after Commissioner Julia Gouge first expressed concerns over two farms.One of the farms, a 50-acre property south of Shiloh Road near Hampstead, had been subdivided in the past, Gouge said. Bill Powel, county administrator for farm preservation, said some lots north of Shiloh Road had been sold, but the south parcel was considered separate.A second property, 60 acres near Wakefield Valley Road, is contiguous to New Windsor, and Gouge expressed concern about sealing the town's corporate borders.