From Harford County government:
Harford County will permanently protect 2,425 acres of farmland from development under a series of bills introduced to the County Council Tuesday at the request of County Executive Barry Glassman. If approved, the legislation would allow the county to execute contracts eliminating 211 development rights through easements on 22 farms. The easements totaling $14,875,221 would be paid for with dedicated funds from a portion of the county’s transfer tax, in accordance with established law and the requirements of the Harford County Agricultural Land Preservation program. The properties would represent the largest total acreage preserved at one time in Harford County in a decade.
“I am proud to set a new record for ag preservation,” County Executive Barry Glassman said. “These farms have some of the best soils in Harford County, so placing them in our preservation program supports growth in agriculture and balances growth in other sectors of the economy. In addition, more than 1,000 acres, or 40% of the total, are in the new incentive area we created in 2017 as a firewall against future expansion of the development envelope in Creswell and Jarrettsville. The incentive program’s success also adds green space to the area infrastructure as we move forward with the Churchville/Creswell study outlined in HarfordNEXT, the countywide master plan.”
The purchase of development rights in the Harford County Agricultural Land Preservation program permanently extinguishes all pre-existing development potential of a particular property and is not used to offset development elsewhere in the county. Other than very limited rights reserved to the original grantor and their immediate family, no further residential subdivision is allowed, and the land is limited in perpetuity to agricultural use as defined in the zoning code. The grantor of the easement and all subsequent owners of the property retain full fee simple ownership of the land, but are bound by the terms of the Deed of Easement, which is recorded in the Land Records of the county.
Properties are selected for the program by the Harford County Agricultural Land Preservation Advisory Board, based on a legislatively established ranking that considers factors such as soil quality, acreage, development rights and location.
Harford County dedicates one-half of the revenue generated by a 1% transfer tax on all real property transactions countywide to fund the program, with offer cycles typically occurring annually. No other use for this funding is allowed under existing law.
The bills introduced Tuesday will have a public hearing at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday, June 12, 2018.
The full text of the bills, one for each property, are available online at http://hcgweb01.harfordcountymd.gov/legislation/.
This is a program where Barry pays way over value on taxpayer dollars to buy property owned by his Sheep Farmer friends. Don’t be fooled
No that program is where the county out right buys property, like Jerry Preston’s farm in Jarrettsville, for way over the value then just let it sit unused and not collecting taxes. This program is where the County Council gives cash to property owners and the the county gets nothing but a promise. $7000 an acre for useless land you get to keep ain’t bad business you just need to know the right people.
Meh, “ag zoning” property taxes are cheap as hell.
Wow I had never considered running a dump truck operation of that magnitude would be zoned as agriculture. That makes it so much worse.
For anyone interested in where your money is spent I would suggest taking a few minutes and check out the link above. It’s actually quite interesting what happens. Here is a quick example. There is 1 property that is approx 50 acres. It is a useless panhandle property with no road frontage. The property has 3 building rights. In order to stop 3 houses from being built on 15 plus acre ugly lots we are paying over a 1/4 million dollars.
And here is the cherry on top. That property is not the owners residence, ( he doesn’t live there) and the tax base on real property search, is less than what the county is paying for the 3 building rights.
So bottom line the county is paying more than the property is worth and the owner gets to keep the land.
Vote all the bums out.
AG Preservation purchases are heavily regulated. The value is determined by a formula. You can read it all here. Mr. Glassman does not control the purchase price or make the decision on which properties are purchased. https://www.ecode360.com/9370402
Calculated by a formula….. And where does this formula come from?
That’s ok Ryan no need to answer we all know it comes from the county council. Which is the same group that also comes up with incentives on top of the formula.
Like Mike Perone says this program should be handled by zoneing or better yet these fine property owners can just donate their building rights for future tax incentives.
Heavily regulated? That certainly calls into question the fair value calculation. We see many examples of Government ineptness in their attempts to “regulate”.