A long-running dispute between Howard County and Maryland officials over rural land preservation could end up costing the county hard cash if it's not resolved soon - or change county development practices if it is. 

Howard's Agricultural Preservation program could be decertified by state planning officials, denying the county a share of transfer taxes that this year totaled $587,000. 

The county uses the money to administer and pay interest on bonds sold to finance the local easement purchase program. Technically, the county program required recertification Oct. 1 - a deadline that has been extended indefinitely. 

A high-level meeting Oct. 31 and an exchange of views since then seem to be moving both parties toward an agreement that could result in more stringent development standards in Howard, where the lack of a tough rural conservation zone has sparked conflict for years. 

Howard County allows one home for every 4.25 acres in rural areas, while its closest neighboring jurisdictions allow no more than one home per 20 acres. Baltimore County allows one home per 50 acres in farm zones. 

Attempts to enact more restrictive zoning in Howard failed in the 1980s when angry farmers surrounded the county buildings with tractors to preserve their ability to sell land for development. 

County officials say it is too late to reverse course, arguing that they are aggressively working to preserve farmland and will never extend water and sewer lines west. 

"I don't think we've got those big, contiguous chunks of land anymore," said County Executive James N. Robey. "I support Smart Growth, but I don't think you can turn back the clock on Howard County. If we had that 20-acre zoning, the land would be more expensive than it is right now." 

The county has agreed to pay $6,180 an acre for easements on 460 acres of Waterford Farm in Glenwood, the most recent to enter the preservation program. 

State officials and private conservation groups say Howard's failure to enact a restrictive zone means the county will continue to lose good farms, while spending millions of dollars more for easements. 

"It means that they're preparing for a final crop of large-lot development," said Dru Schmidt-Perkins, executive director of 1000 Friends of Maryland, a private nonprofit group. "Howard has spent an awful lot of money protecting very little. I don't like to see state money wasted." 

Hopeful on agreement 

Joseph F. Tassone, director of the state agricultural preservation office, said he is hopeful agreement will be reached soon. 

"What's needed is an action that has not been tried before," Tassone said. 

The most obvious is to enact a zone allowing one house per 20 acres, but county officials say that is not going to happen. 

Short of that, Tassone said, the county could change the way the clustering and density exchange process works. Instead of giving priority to home and septic system locations, then leaving the rest as open space, Tassone said the reverse could be done. 

"Make a priority the preservation of land that represents good potential return in farming - then locate the lots and site the septic system with what's left over," he said. 

The county uses both techniques to keep most of a tract untouched when development occurs. That's done by grouping houses in one small area, or by moving the density legally attached to land from a rural tract to a more urban one - leaving the rural site "preserved." 

Rutter likes state's idea 

Joseph W. Rutter Jr., Howard's planning director, said he likes Tassone's idea, except that it requires using shared septic systems that other state agencies have been loath to approve. 

Council Chairman Guy J. Guzzone, a North Laurel-Savage Democrat and a former director of the Maryland chapter of the Sierra Club, said he has regrets about the county's course. 

"Do I believe that 20-30 years ago they should have had some higher acreage zones?" Guzzone said. "You bet." But creating such zones now "would be taking value away from people," he said. 

"The fact of the matter is that we do have an outstanding program - visionary for its time," he said, describing how the county uses zero-coupon bonds to buy agricultural easements on the installment plan, enabling the county to stretch the money. 

Guzzone said Howard helped invent what's now called Smart Growth. The county "made all of its smart growth decisions before the state program started," he said. 

Rutter had a few practical points to make. 

"It's probably right that big farms aren't long for Howard County," he said. "What we've intentionally done is taken the lead on viable metropolitan-area farming," enacting new zoning rules that encourage more agricultural businesses such as pick-your-own farms and crop processing. 

"What these people [conservationists] are trying to preserve is open space," Rutter said. "They're right, you can't have a hog farm behind million-dollar houses. But you can have nursery stock, or a pick-your-own." 

About 21,000 acres protected 

Howard has slightly more than 21,000 acres protected under agricultural, environmental, historic and other easements. But high land prices in Howard have slowed purchases, though the county has $15 million available for the program this year. 

Creating a 20-acre rural zone wouldn't work, Rutter said. "If the farm I had was downzoned at 20 acres, I'm not going to sell it, I'm going to fight," and wait until a new administration gains power, he said. 

Schmidt-Perkins is unconvinced. 

"They've given up," she said. 

Howard is small, she added, but "they're their own worst enemy. They're losing some of the most valuable farmland in the state." 

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