A farmer’s attempt to build a fence on his 10-acre Laytonsville estate is the catalyst to proposed state legislation that has irked his neighbors.

At issue is Keith Ohlinger’s decision to build a fence last year near the front of his property in Montgomery County’s 100,000-acre Agricultural Reserve. After he built the fence, he learned that an existing covenant on his property prohibited the fence. Ohlinger said he was unaware of the covenant when he purchased the property in 2009.

And when one of his neighbors threatened to sue him over the fence, Ohlinger tore it down.

Now, state lawmakers have proposed legislation that would eliminate covenants — like Ohlinger’s — that prohibit land use for farming and other agricultural purposes in the county’s Agricultural Reserve.

“We have a community within the Agricultural Reserve that a person fell under convenance which was not in his purchase agreement,” said Sen. Karen S. Montgomery (D-Dist. 14) of Brookeville, who co-sponsored the bill with Sen. Robert J. Garagiola (D-Dist. 15) of Germantown.

Montgomery County’s delegation to the House of Delegates is expected to discuss the bill Friday in Annapolis.

While Montgomery said she is aware of land covenants in other parts of the Agricultural Reserve, some say the bill is being crafted specifically for Ohlinger.

Greg and Caroline Scace live in the Brook Hollow subdivision with Ohlinger and said they were bothered by how Ohlinger handled the situation when he learned of the subdivision’s covenants, which have been in place since 1980.

The covenants prohibit land usage that could deter potential homeowners and reduce property value. It also prohibits construction of a fence or enclosure — except for a backyard fence.

However, exceptions can be made with support from a majority of property owners in the subdivision, which the Scaces said Ohlinger did not seek.

“I think most of us don’t care if he farms and there are others that farm here in this little neighborhood,” Greg Scarce said. “[Neighbors] cared about lack of oversight.”

Ohlinger was unaware the subdivision had covenants in place when he bought his property in 2009, said his attorney, Michele Rosenfeld, of Potomac. Her client has filed a lawsuit against the sellers of the property, in which Ohlinger claims they failed to disclose the restrictions while the sale was being finalized.

Lawrence and Kathryn Koenig, of Clarksville, sold the property to Ohlinger, according to state property records. Lawrence Koenig is aware that Ohlinger filed papers, but has yet to be served with a lawsuit, he said. He declined to comment further.

A phone call to Ohlinger was not returned. He is declining to speak to the media because of his pending lawsuit, Rosenfeld said.

The Brook Hollow subdivision is classified as a Rural Density Transfer zone — meaning that agriculture and agricultural businesses are preferred uses, according to Caroline Taylor, executive director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance, which supports the Agricultural Reserve. Covenants stipulating land use in Brook Hollow were installed by its property developer, Griffith Associates, less than two months before the Agricultural Reserve was formally established in October of 1980, she said.

However, those involved in Ohlinger’s property issue are at odds over the timing of the covenants.

Rosenfeld argues that while the developer’s covenants were established in 1980, houses were not built in the subdivision for at least another two years — after the Agricultural Reserve was established.

The Scaces and their neighbors respect the Agricultural Reserve, but say they believe the subdivision’s covenants take precedence because they were established first.

“They're undermining a covenant that was put in to protect property values,” said Caroline Scace.

nnourmohammadi@gazette.net