KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND
COUNTY COMMISSIONER'S

PUBLIC HEARING - 07/06/2004

Code Home Rule Bill No. 01-2004

July 6, 2004

A Public Hearing was held on Tuesday, July 6, 2004, at 10:00 a.m. in the County Commissioners' Hearing Room, County Government Center, Chestertown, Maryland on Code Home Rule Bill No. 01-2004 which is: an Act to amend the Kent County Zoning Ordinance by adding a note to Article V, Section 1.5A clarifying limits on an Agricultural Easement Program participant's ability to transfer property to a child. County Commissioners Roy W. Crow, Scott D. Livie, and William W. Pickrum were in attendance as well as Thomas N. Yeager, County Attorney, Gail Owings, Director of Planning and Zoning, Carla Martin, Community Planner, approximately 4 interested citizens, and members of the media.

Notice of the public hearing was read into the record by Commissioner Pickrum. It was noted that at its June 3, 2004 meeting, the Kent County Planning Commission reviewed and recommended denial of the following text amendment: Agricultural Land Preservation District Desity Calculations for Children's Lots; Amend Article V, Section 1/5 of the Kent County Land Use Ordinance by adding the following notation: Agricultural Easement Program - Nothing in this regulations shall limit the ability of a participant in the Agricultural Easement Program to convey real property impressed with an easement to family members provided the easement was recorded with the Kent County Clerk of Circuit Court prior to October 1, 2003.

According to correspondence received from Elizabeth H. Morris, Chair, Planning Commission, with respect to the amendment concerning desity calculations for children's lots for farms participating in the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Easement Program, the planning Commission found that the proposal conflicted with the general intent of the Agricultural Preservation District.

Mrs. Owings explained that the text amendment re-inserts a provision that previously existed from 1989 through 2003, that it would currently apply to only two farms in the County, and that all applicants would have to comply with the Maryland Agriculture Preservation statutes.

John Chance, a resident of Chesterville, and owner of one of the two eligible farms, spoke in favor of the Code Home Rule Bill No. 01-2004, explaining that it was his intention to give each of his three children a portion of the farm. Commissioner Livie inquired as to whether or not the proposal would set adverse precedence, to which Mrs. Owings responded that the proposal would not apply to easements recorded after October 1, 2003.

This hearing was taped for reference and adjourned at 10:00 a.m.

The second reading of this proposed legislation will take place on the next legislative day, Tuesday, July 20.

THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
OF KENT COUNTY, MARYLAND

Janice F. Fletcher
Executive Assistant


Approved: William W. Pickrum, President