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Montgomery ag reserve teaches how to protect all of Maryland’s working lands

Friday, Oct. 7, 2005

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The ag reserve contains 577 farms on 75,000 acres of land and several small towns for a total of 90,000 acres. It produces $252 million worth of goods and employs 10,000 people. Most of the farms are family owned. Their productivity made Montgomery County one of the few Maryland counties in which the value of agricultural products increased during the last agricultural census.

Montgomery’s ag reserve is a national model. However, the county’s success has not been widely emulated. Was the county’s success a fluke? Did it depend on unique circumstances? We at the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology Inc. do not think so. Extensive research into land protection policies suggests that Montgomery County’s experiences combined with new information can show the way to protect Maryland’s valuable, but threatened, working lands.

Big contributor to economy

In the ag reserve, there is no presumption that the land is being held for some better use. After all, the region provides great value to the community. It has protected the aesthetic and historic landscape and sustained family farms and farming. In an age of rising fuel prices and global uncertainty, it provides a secure resource for fresh produce close to Washington, D.C.

Its industries contribute more to the county’s economy than they require in services and their diversity improves the economic mix.

The reserve is a great place to play. The region complements the area’s park system and green infrastructure. The fields and woods provide critical wildlife habitat, clean the air and protect groundwater and streams.

While it is no museum, it has sheltered historic sites and 18th and 19th century homes and villages.

Montgomery’s elected officials laid the reserve’s foundation when they created a vision for their county’s future. They wanted to allow growth, but also protect a system of greenways and a critical mass of land for agriculture.

Their first step was establishing meaningful agricultural zoning. At the time the reserve was planned, Montgomery’s agriculture zoning allowed one dwelling unit for every five acres of land. The County Council knew such permissive zoning would never protect the county’s valuable agricultural resources. It changed the zoning to one dwelling unit per 25 acres. This so-called downzoning was immensely controversial and the technique remains controversial because landowners fear they will lose equity in their properties.

The center recently researched whether downzoning did lead to a loss of equity. The study found that often properties do not lose value, and may gain value. To refine that study, the center is working with national experts to refine criteria for a model to predict whether downzoning would reduce equity. And it is re-examining the results of several downzonings in Maryland, including Montgomery’s. The conclusions will help inform several Maryland counties now considering downzoning.

Selling development rights

To address concerns about downzoning and protect landowners’ equity, the council created transferable development rights (TDRs). They assigned one TDR for every five acres of land. This meant that an owner of 100 acres, who under the old zoning could have built one house on every five acres, or 20 houses on his 100 acres, now had 20 development rights and could sell them to a developer who wanted to increase the units he could build in a zone the county identified as a development region.

The TDRs currently sell for about $40,000 each and their sales have protected large portions of the reserve.

Despite Montgomery’s example, TDRs have not been widely successful elsewhere. The Center for Agro-Ecology is completing studies that highlight the critical ingredients for successful TDR programs. One newly commissioned study will examine whether this promising technique can be applied to the Upper Eastern Shore, a region where large, profitable farms dominate the landscape.

Easements protect land

The county has also purchased development rights to gain conservation easements that protect land, using funding from the county’s Agriculture Easement Program and the state’s Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation and Rural Legacy Programs. In addition, landowners have donated development rights in exchange for tax credits.

Donated easements could become a more powerful instrument for land protection, according to another study by the center. Landowners receive compensation for easement donations through tax credits. However, the formula for applying credits generally allows only those landowners with high incomes to take full advantage of the benefits.

The center’s study suggests the legislature change the formula so landowners with middle and low incomes can take full advantage of the tax breaks, an adjustment that would lead to more donated easements.

The state has invested steadily in protecting its working lands. Getting the best return on these public dollars is important. Another recent study conducted for the center by the Maryland Department of Planning showed how vital it is for state and local efforts to support one another.

This is particularly true for public works such as transportation projects that tend to direct development. One of the challenges the Montgomery ag reserve faces illustrates this need. Two proposed transportation projects, the Intercounty Connector highway and a proposed Upper Potomac River Bridge, could open the reserve to more development pressure and endanger the results of decades of public and private resources spent protecting working lands.

Lessons learned

The ag reserve’s experience and the center’s research contain valuable lessons. First, a guiding vision for a county, or region, underpins all else. Second, meaningful agricultural zoning is necessary. Third, reducing the number of housing units allowed per acre does not necessarily mean landowners lose equity. Fourth, a mixed approach to protect land through TDRs, easements and zoning also protects owners’ equity. Fifth, state and county development policies need to be coordinated with efforts to protect working lands. This includes adequate funding for the purchase of easements and meaningful incentives for the donation of easements. It also includes planning public works such as roads, sewers, and the location of major institutions so they bolster, rather than threaten, agricultural districts.

With this guide in hand, there is plenty of reason to believe we can succeed in protecting the working lands so valuable to all Marylanders.

Dr. Russell Brinsfield is executive director of the Maryland Center for Agro-Ecology Inc. in Queenstown and director of the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources’ Wye Research and Education Center. As a scientist, Brinsfield has coauthored numerous publications focusing on ways to minimize the environmental impacts of agriculture on our natural resources. He manages the Brinsfield family farms, is mayor of Vienna, and is a co-founder and board of directors member of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy.