Cecil County Agricultural Preservation Advisory Board Minutes
Thursday, June 12, 2003
Board Members Present: Bob Knutsen (Chair), David Davis, Wayne Stafford, Stephen Balderston, and Fred Orr, Sr.
Board Members Absent: None.
Others Present: David Black and Jocelyn Beland (OPZ staff).
Chairman Knutsen called the meeting to order at 8:00 p.m. Chairman Knutsen asked for a motion on the January minutes. Stafford made a motion to approve the minutes as written. Balderston seconded the motion. All were in favor, the motion carried.
Old Business
New Business
1. Reconsideration of District Application: Mary Elizabeth Brown. PROPERTY LOCATION: 145 State Line Road, Rising Sun, MD, 21911. Tax Map 4, Grid 14, Parcel 8. ACREAGE: 55.56 acres, 9th Election District. PRESENTLY ZONED: Northern Agricultural Residential (NAR).
Mr. Black advised that this application for a district was disapproved by the Ag Board and the Planning Commission, with a recommendation that the amount of withheld acreage be decreased, and possibly ask the adjoining property to partner with her. That contiguous property has filed an application to establish a district, which will be heard in July. Ms. Beland advised that Ms. Brown has also decided to place the entire property into a district. Mr. Stoltzfus' application (the adjoining property) indicates 63 acres. However, when the Soil Conservation Service did their work up, they show 70 acres. The board members believe the Brown application should not be decided until the Stoltzfus application is heard. It was decided to hear the Stoltzfus application tonight, and not wait until July.
2. Application to Establish an Agricultural Preservation District: Amos F. and Sarah G. Stoltzfus. PROPERTY LOCATION: 201 Marshall Lane, Rising Sun, MD, 21911. Tax Map 4, Grid 5, Parcel 1. ACREAGE: 63 acres, 9th Election District. PROPERTY OWNER: Amos F. and Sarah G. Stoltzfus. PRESENTLY ZONED: Northern Agricultural Residential (NAR).
Mr. Black gave the soil details of the Stoltzfus property. There are four dwellings on the property. There is a soil and water conservation plan and a forest management plan in effect. Discussion followed concerning the number of lots that Mr. Stoltzfus could obtain for child lots. Mr. Black advised that during "General Discussion" the Board would discuss the number of child's lots/owner's lots that an easement or district is allowed to have is going to change for new districts. The governor has recently signed that into law. Therefore, rather than being allowed the maximum of 10 dwelling units at the one-to-twenty density, they would only be allowed three, based on the size.
Motion made by Orr, seconded by Davis, to approve both applications (Brown and Stoltzfus).
Discussion followed. Mr. Balderston feels the Stoltzfus family should be informed of the new law that would only allow three lots. Mr. Black advised that OPZ will notify them that their property was approved by the Ag Board, and would also send them a copy of the new ruling explaining what they can expect.
Mr. Knutsen called for a vote on the motion. Motion unanimously carried.
3. Application to Establish an Agricultural Preservation District. Ella Mae Truslow. PROPERTY LOCATION: 1429 Liberty Grove Road, Conowingo, MD, 21918. Tax Map 16, Grid 11, Parcel 50. ACREAGE: 45.16 acres, 6th Election District. PRESENTLY ZONED: Northern Agricultural Residential (NAR).
Ms. Beland informed the Board that this application meets all the standards. Even though it does not meet the 50-acre criteria, it adjoins an ag district property. This is consistent with the Ag Boards' goals of preserving large blocks of land. Another adjoining property has been submitted to the Planning Commission for the creation of a subdivision, which is very difficult to farm because of the rocky ground and the steep slopes. However, the Truslow property does not have steep slopes. A Board member advised that there is no soil and water conservation plan, therefore perhaps the recommendation should require them to apply for that.
Motion made by Balderston, seconded by Stafford, and unanimously carried to approve the establishment of an Agricultural Preservation District with the recommendation that a soil and water conservation plan be filed.
4. Spray irrigation
Chris Rogers, URS Corporation, the Town of Cecilton's engineer. They have been working with the town for a couple of years to try to plan for the upgrade to its wastewater treatment plant. A plan they are trying to implement includes spray irrigation of the treated wastewater. The soils on the original property they planned to use were not appropriate and could not accommodate the spray irrigation. The Town contacted Mr. Davis to see if he was interested in allowing his property to be used for spray irrigation. Knowing that his property had a MALPF easement on it, the Town began working with MALPF to adopt a policy to allow them to consider spray irrigation. That has now been completed. One of the criteria within the policy is that the local ag advisory board has to give their support and approval of the use of a MALPF easement land for the use of spray irrigation of wastewater. The Town's wastewater system currently treats 50,000 gallons per day. They want to upgrade it in the first phase to approximately 75,000 gallons per day, ultimately to 100,000 gallons per day. They would like to continue the lagoon treatment process, but instead of discharging the wastewater into Duck Creek, which it does currently, they want to use land application of the treated wastewater. That allows a lot more flexibility for the Town because they will not have to deal with ever increasingly stringent standards for discharging into the stream. With spray irrigation, the nutrients are removed through the treatment process and through the crop uptake. MALPF and Mr. Davis were taken on a tour of other spray irrigation lands on the shore.
This is the first step in the process. They still need to check the soils. Some hydro geologic work needs to be done to make sure there will not be a negative impact on the groundwater table. Typically, they would spray on orchard grass because that has the most nutrient updates and there is not a total removal of the cover crop, so you can spray year round. They will accommodate whatever crop rotation or crop plan Mr. Davis wants to adopt. There is so much land with relatively little wastewater that they can relax the spray irrigation application rates to accommodate crop rotation to accommodate different crops that may not take as much wastewater as orchard grass or canary grass. They would work with Mr. Davis to put together a crop management plan to make sure that the way the spray irrigation is done will conform to what he wants to do with his crops. Generally, they would do center pivots. There is a prohibition of spray irrigating on direct consumption crops. Feed corn, soy, any hay are all suitable crops for spray irrigation.
A Board member asked how this would work in with the nutrient management plan. Mr. Rogers advised that they would do that crop management plan, and they have to show a nutrient balance. Part of the hydrogeology is to make sure there are not too many nutrients going into the groundwater. That is all part of the review process.
If the Ag Advisory Board approves this, then a more formal application would be sent to MALPF. Then they would start dealing with MDE. A tremendous amount of engineering, soils, and hydrogeology goes into the reporting in order for MDE to approve it.
The question was posed, what happens if there is a tremendous amount of rain, such as this year? Are you able to cut back on the amount of spraying? Mr. Rogers stated that in any land application system, a storage lagoon would need to be built. A storage lagoon is built to handle those days that you cannot spray. The size of the storage lagoon is based on weather data for this region. In the case where spraying would occur on more traditional row crops, they would have to build in more storage for those rotation times.
A Board member asked if there would be several center pivot units. Mr. Rogers answered probably.
A member stated if the Board approves this application, it would not be a blanket policy for all of Cecil County. Mr. Black concurred. MALPF's policy is they will consider it with various steps along the way, but they would only consider it on a case-by-case basis.
A Board member asked if the hay could be cut and sold, and would it have an odor or flavor? Mr. Rogers stated this would be treated effluent (lagoon treatment), and instead of going into the stream, it would go on the land and the crop uptake is the final treatment process.
A Board member asked what the nutrient value on this is. Mr. Rogers advised that typically lagoon effluent is about 20-30 milligrams per liter, which is 250-300 lbs. of nitrogen per acre per year.
Mr. Davis thinks it is a good idea. His son is unsure because of the weather conditions. Mr. Rogers advised that there would not be a problem because of the amount of acreage.
Mr. Rogers advised that the cost to install and maintain the pivot systems would be handled by the Town.
Mr. Black asked how much this would help the Town of Cecilton in terms of their projected growth. Will this be adequate to meet Cecilton's needs for ten years, twenty years, fifty years? Mr. Rogers stated that with that low amount of flow, one development could come in use it. The Town will grow in accordance with its Comprehensive Plan. They have to demonstrate to MALPF that the service area will only be priority funding areas because they do not want State money going to encourage growth where they do not want growth to occur. Currently, the Town is nearing its capacity of wastewater.
Motion made by Stafford, seconded by Balderston, and unanimously carried to approve as presented.
4. Term Expiration
Mr. Black advised that Mr. Davis' and Mr. Knutsen's terms will expire on August 1, 2003. State regulations state that you are only allowed to serve two six-year terms. He thanked the two members for their years of support, guidance and dedication. He advised that he would ask if the Mr. Davis and Mr. Knutsen could be re-nominated to serve as Board members. If not, then David Wilson has advised that he would be willing to serve. Also, a person from the lower part of the County should replace Mr. Davis. Possibly more would be known by the July meeting.
General Discussion
1. Cecil Land Trust
Ms. Beland advised that the Cecil Land Trust is seeking to create a new source of revenue for land preservation/infrastructure. They met with the County Commissioners today and proposed some ideas. The popular choice at that meeting was to impose a transfer tax. A transfer tax could be very flexible and state that it would not apply to first time homebuyers, or residents who are upgrading their home. A new group would be created to go over the fine details before it is presented to the delegates.
A Board member pointed out that they tried to impose a tax a few years ago, and there was a group "Citizens Against New Taxes" that fought it and it never went through. Ms. Beland stated that impact fees, excise tax, as well as others that were investigated. A transfer tax has the most flexibility and is spread across a large population, and it was felt that it would have the least impact.
There was discussion concerning the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) and the vision for preserving land. Cecil County has signed that agreement. Tony Di Giacomo is working with ESLC on defining land that is preserved, and making it more manageable. If all of Cecil County were developed tomorrow, it would meet the requirement based on the open space that is required in subdivisions. However, that is not the spirit they are looking for.
2. MALPF Easements
Mr. Black advised that five easement offers were made by the State for this year, even though they have limited funds. Those that have had offers are Woodland Hurtt, Hill Farm, John Russell property, Lorraine Allred, and Robert England, three of which have accepted. Further, the County has decided to pay Floyd Allred from some various funds that the Commissioners have set aside to pay for the State's portion.
A Board member thinks that the Board ought to seek some publicity on easement settlements. He feels they may get more support if the public knows that their taxes are saving land.
Discussion ensued pertaining to Transfer of Development Rights (TDR). Mr. Black explained how TDRs operate and what is required for their success.
With there being no further items to discuss, the meeting adjourned at 9:15 p.m.
NEXT MEETING: July 10, 2003 at 8:00 p.m.
|
