Maryland - HOWARD COUNTY
Countywide program - Formed in 1978 - researched by Suzanne Heflin
OVERVIEW - As a suburb of both Washington and Baltimore, Howard County has been rapidly growing since the 1950s. It has several distinctions among local agricultural easement programs: (1) The oldest in Maryland and one of the first in the nation; (2) the first program to adopt an Installment Purchase Agreement (IPA) system for funding easements, in 1989; and (3) the leading program in the nation in total funds spent ($193 million) for agricultural easement acquisitions. Howard participates in both state programs, Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF) and Rural Legacy, and has a county-funded purchase of development rights PDR program. It also administers transfer of development rights (TDR) and cluster arrangements that produce additional easements. The county does not have agricultural zoning and its two rural zones allow considerable residential development.
EASEMENT ACTIVITY - 24,471 acres, including county
purchase of development rights (PDR), TDRs, clustering, MALPF and Rural Legacy
acquisitions. This includes about 18,400 acres acquired by the county's PDR
program, with full and IPA payments, and 1,700 TDR acres.
Goals: 30,000 acres protected by agricultural easement or other land
preservation methods.
Other Easement Programs: 4,000 acres in environmental easements (some
properties are farmed and many are held by homeowner associations), Maryland
Environmental Trust-1,147 acres in 16 transactions.
Total Agricultural Easements in County: Approximately 29,600 acres.
FUNDING
Acquisition Spending to Date: $193 million
Revenues: County portion of the state agricultural transfer tax, local
land transfer tax, state Rural Legacy and MALPF funds, and federal funds. The
IPA program, used to fund county-purchased easements, was rejuvenated with $15
million with bond funds in 2002, to be retired by revenues from the agricultural
transfer tax and the county's dedicated land transfer tax.
GOVERNANCE - The Howard County Agricultural Land Preservation Program is housed in the Department of Planning and Zoning. A seven-member citizens' Agricultural Land Preservation Advisory Board, appointed by the County Council, oversees the program. Five Advisory Board members also serve on the MALPF Advisory Board.
STAFF AND OPERATING BUDGET - One full-time staff person and one full-time secretary for agricultural land preservation. The annual operating budget is approximately $195,000.
ORIGINS - Responding to intense development and conversion of farmland, a citizens' committee was appointed in 1975 to study preservation options. One result was the formation of Howard's easement program in 1978 that shortly began to participate in state funding through MALPF. The county-funded program was established in 1984. No MALPF easements were funded in Howard during 1988-2002, as a result of limited funding and unattractive per acre prices from the state. Landowners were steered to the county-funded program with its IPA arrangement.
ACQUISITION PROCESS AND STRATEGY - The county executive
gives final approval to county purchases. The Advisory Board establishes criteria
and reviews all applications. An established quantitative ranking system for
reviewing applications to the county and MALPF programs is not currently used,
because of the availability of sufficient funds to accommodate all proposals
that qualify according to minimum standards (see other criteria). Instead, properties
are rated only according to easement value. For the county program easement
values are capped at $7,200 an acre.
Rating of Parcels: Quantitative. COUNTY AND MALPF: Currently scored only
for easement value, based on 600 points including a discretionary factor concerning
the value of the farm to the local agricultural community. RURAL LEGACY: 1,000
points emphasizing retired development potential, farm management, natural resource
values, contiguity, scenic and historic values.
Other Criteria: COUNTY PROGRAM: Minimum of 100 developable acres or 25
acres contiguous to other easement land, 50 percent Class I-III soils. MALPF:
Enrollment in an Agricultural Preserve District, 50 acre minimum and 60 percent
Class I-III soils. RURAL LEGACY: Location in Rural Legacy Area.
CONNECTIONS TO LOCAL PLANNING AND LAND USE POLICIES
- County has had urban growth boundaries since 1982, an adequate public facilities
ordinance, and a growth cap of 1,500 residential units per year imposed in 2001
and fully implemented in 2004. Public water and sewer service is not extended
to 94,900 acres with Rural Conservation (RC) zoning in the western part of county
where most easement acres are located.
Zoning: No agricultural zoning. The two rural zones, Rural Residential
(RR) and RC, allow one unit to 4.25 acres (1:4.25) density with clustering.
RR parcels can also be subdivided at 1:3. Clustered areas (preservation parcels)
are placed under easement.
TDR Arrangement: Sending parcels are in RC zones, while receiving parcels are
either RC or RR. Rights transferred at one right per three acres (1:3) in sending
area can result in increased density to 1:2 in receiving area.
DEMOGRAPHICS
2000 Population: 247,842
1990-2000 Population Change: +60,514 residents; +32 percent
AGRICULTURAL LAND
Approximately 40,000 acres.
Conversion to Urban Use: 6,247 acres of farmland converted and 8,568
farmland acres preserved in 1991-2000. In 1980-2001, 20,433 farmland acres were
converted. (State conversion data)
OTHER AGRICULTURAL CHARACTERISTICS
1997 Market Value: $19.6 million Number of Farms: 318
Principal Commodities: Nursery and greenhouse crops, dairy products,
equine
MAP NARRATIVE - EASEMENT GEOGRAPHY
(PROGRAM MAP)
Most agricultural easements are located in the northwestern part of
the county, with substantial easements contiguous to growth areas. Some large
contiguous blocks of easements are forming in the northernmost reaches of the
county, but in close vicinity to development. Eastern Howard County is heavily
urbanized.