County Executive Announces New Easement Application Period

County Executive Ken Ulman recently announced the opening of a new application period for the Agricultural Land Preservation Program (ALPP). The County seeks to acquire preservation easements to protect its agricultural industry and rural character. Referred to as “Batch 14”, the application period will run from June 1 through July 31, 2009.

To qualify for the ALPP program, properties must be 50 acres or larger; however, properties that are 20-50 acres qualify if they are adjacent to agricultural preservation easements, environmental preservation parcels, parkland, donated easements or other permanently protected land. Properties must also meet certain soils criteria to be eligible.

The County uses a scoring system to determine the easement purchase price. Applicant properties are awarded points based on a variety of characteristics, including size, the capability and productivity of the soils, adjacency to protected land and other factors that impact agricultural viability. The higher a property scores, the greater the easement offer will be. The maximum offer amount will be $40,000 per acre, though the average easement offer will likely be $25,000 to $35,000 per acre.

For Batch 14, the County intends to offer installment purchase agreements with a 20-year term. To maximize the acreage that can be preserved, the county intends to pay the purchase price in 20 equal annual principal installments with twice a year tax-exempt interest payments. In the event that this Batch is competitive, and that there are more applicants than funding available to purchase easements, the scoring system will prioritize which properties the County will make easement offers on.

Details about the program and its benefits are available in a brochure <will link to the online brochure>provided by the Agricultural Land Preservation Program.
Applications and further information may be obtained from Joy Levy, Administrator, Agricultural Land Preservation Program, Howard County Department of Planning & Zoning, 3430 Court House Drive, Ellicott City, MD 21043, 410-313-5407, or email jlevy@howardcountymd.gov. Applications can also be picked up at the County’s temporary office space at 8930 Stanford Boulevard in Columbia. Applications are also available on line at http://howardcountymd.gov/DPZ/agriculture.htm.

Show Your Pride in Preservation - Apply for Agriculture Land Preservation Sign

County Executive Ken Ulman recently requested the Agricultural Land Preservation Program (ALPP) to create a roadside sign for property owners in the ALPP to display, indicating that their farm is preserved. Working with staff in the County’s Office of Public Information, a simple yet colorful sign was designed and is now available.

What a great way to let others know that you’ve made the commitment to preserve your farm! There will be no cost to program participants for the sign or its installation. The sign is made of aluminum and is 24x30” in size. A sample of what it will look like is shown to the right. The County will construct the sign post and do the installation. Order forms are available online at http://howardcountymd.gov/DPZ/agriculture.htm.

These and other agriculture-related news items are available in the current issue of Howard Ag, a multi-agency newsletter servicing the agricultural community.