There are a number of public policy actions supportive of effective land conservation that are possible only at the local, county level in Maryland. The tools discussed here are all being used in various combinations in the counties around the state. They include protective rural zoning, tax credits for protected land, transfer of development rights, matching funds/local programs, public private partnerships, and preferential policies to protect resource-based industries.

Protective Rural Zoning

Zoning powers and other land use authority generally reside at the County level in Maryland. Often rural zoning is designed to be just a very low density residential zone, which may not do a good job in protecting a particular resource (e.g. forests or farmland) or in maintaining the rural character of a village or hamlet. Rural zoning that is sufficiently restrictive, and focused on existing resource uses stabilizes the land base in an area to allow those industries to thrive. It also gives landowners predictability when considering permanent land protection options (e.g. selling or donating a conservation easement).

There will never be enough funding to buy all the development rights in an area, nor is it likely that all landowners will want to sell or donate their conservation easements on their properties. Thus it is next to impossible to preserve land on a large scale with easements alone. Nevertheless, all members of a jurisdiction benefit from the environmental protections and fiscal savings (lower tax burdens) that large districts of protected lands provide. As such, zoning can be a critical local tool in the effectiveness of land protection when coordinated with private and State efforts.

Nominal rural zoning in Maryland ranges from one dwelling per one acre (1:1) to one dwelling per 50 acres (1:50). Alternatively put, nominal 1:50 acre zoning, as found in Baltimore County, has a "density" of 1 dwelling per 50 acres. The American Farmland Trust considers a density of one dwelling per 20 acres to be the maximum density possible for a true agricultural protection zone. The wide range of residential densities in what each County refers to as its 'Agricultural' or 'Rural' zone is a result of individual political histories. In some cases, the zoning was an attempt to slow land conversion two decades ago that has been outstripped by the growing wealth of the population and the decentralization of job centers. In its slowness to adjust to economic conditions and growth pressures, sometimes zoning originally meant to slow development (e.g. three and five acre minimum lots) has actually accelerated the conversion destruction and fragmentation of resource lands. Protective zoning, in turn, is part of a dynamic process that can protect lands in one jurisdiction, in part, by deflecting growth pressures to a neighboring jurisdiction with weaker zoning. In any case, it is clear that 1:3 or 1:5 zoning does not protect agriculture effectively where there is pressure to develop the land.

Check out the Fact Sheet on Agricultural Protective Zoning from American Farmland Trust at: http://www.farmlandinfo.org/
fic/tas/tafs-apz.htm

Consult the Atlas of Agricultural Land Preservation in Maryland from the Maryland Department of Planning for the status of individual counties. Each county map from the atlas can be viewed through http://www.mdp.state.md.us/info/localplan/counties.html.
Go to "county" and then to "agricultural preservation".

Tax Incentives

In Maryland productive agricultural and forested lands receive a 'preferential tax assessment' meaning that the land is taxed, by state law, based on its use rather than its value as residential land. Local tax incentives that reduce county property taxes on protected land also reduce the costs to resource-based industries. This often helps to encourage the sale or donation of conservation easements.

Conversely, Maryland 'recaptures' some of the preferential assessment by imposing an Agricultural Transfer Tax on agricultural land that is taken out of production, presumably for development. Those monies are shared with the counties and are used to fund the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program (MALPF).

In addition to the preferential tax assessment local taxing authorities can provide tax credits to landowners who permanently or temporarily protect their land. It can include tax relief for both residential and agricultural improvements, or just for the undeveloped portions of property subject to an easement. Some counties have provided a cap on the maximum amount of credit to be given in order to prevent abuse of the program, or to limit loss of taxes to the local government. Anne Arundel, Harford, Howard and Montgomery counties have the most generous tax credits in Maryland.

Transferable Development Rights (TDR)

The transfer of development rights from one property (usually resource land) to another (in an area planned for redevelopment or new growth) is a fairly sophisticated tool of local government to shift density from one part of the jurisdiction to another. In its simplest form, the private sector essentially pays the costs of land conservation by protecting one piece of land in exchange for the ability to increase the density on an appropriate 'receiving' property.

A handful of Maryland counties have enacted TDR Programs. Several have had significant results. Montgomery County's TDR Program is a national model, having protected over 40,000 acres of farm and forest in the last 25 years. Calvert County has also designed a TDR program (sometimes facilitated by the Calvert Farmland Trust) that has protected almost 7,000 acres of farmland.

To see a Fact Sheet on Transfer of Development Rights from American Farmland Trust, go to: http://www.farmlandinfo.org/
documents/27746/FS_TDR_1-01.pdf

Matching funds

Most of the state programs in Maryland that buy development rights/conservations easements either require or encourage matching funds from the individual counties. Matching funds serve to involve the County in the public investment and, by extension, give the counties a stake in how their own public policies (i.e. zoning, annexations, water and sewer lines, etc.) impact that investment. On the down side, the ability to maximize the leverage of state funds with local matching money is often related to the wealth of the county. Much of the resource land in the state is located in jurisdictions that can provide little or no matching funds. Ironically, this is often where protection dollars could go the farthest, given the relatively low cost of land and, by extension, conservation easements.

A number of counties have gone a step further than maximizing their matching funds and developed self-contained purchase of development rights (conservation easements) programs. Some of the most interesting innovations in land conservation are occurring in these local programs.

Partnerships

Largely driven by Rural Legacy, one of the State's newest land protection programs, the state has seen an increase in public-private partnerships and cross-jurisdictional cooperation in order to compete for funds to direct conservation efforts into relatively concentrated areas around the State. To see the variety of organizations involved as 'sponsors' of winning applications, go to: http://www.dnr.state.md.us/rurallegacy/
rlprogram/allrurallegacyareas.html

Preferential policies to preserve resource based industries

The three most often discussed areas of local policy that could be viewed as 'preferential' are 1) substantial buffer requirements in the subdivision regulations between existing farm operations and residential development, 2) right-to-farm laws to prevent nuisance suits, and 3) agricultural economic development programs.

For a look at Fact Sheet on Right-to-Farm Laws from American Farmland Trust, go to: http://www.farmlandinfo.org/ fic/tas/tafs-rtfl.html

For a Fact Sheet on Agricultural Economic Development, go to:
http://www.farmlandinfo.org/fic/tas/tafs-aed.html