Citizens To Preserve The Reserve, Save Rural Laytonsville, Limit Non-Agricultural Development on Agricultural Land In Montgomery County

Latest Developments - Archive

Fall Creek 3rd LLC Buys White's Gift Farm From Derwood Bible Church
Fall Creek 3rd LLC (Ruppert Nurseries, Inc.) has bought 225.44 acres known as White's Gift Farm, Inc. from Derwood Bible Church. The property is located northeast of the intersection of Griffith Road and Maryland Route 108. Ruppert Nurseries is a wholesale tree nursery in Montgomery County (near Laytonsville).   The land will continue to be used for working agriculture. Click here to read Gazette article.

Council Approves Ad Hoc Committee To Examine Outstanding Ag Reserve Issues
The Montgomery County Council has unanimously approved the formation of an Ad Hoc Agricultural Policy Working Group, which would provide the Council with comprehensive advice on proposals dealing with the County’s 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve. CPR President Jane Evans has been named as one of the Working Group's 15 members.

Issues the Working Group will examine include Rural Density Transfer zone legislation, child lots, the proposed building lot termination program, sand mounds, and issues related to the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program. The Working Group is expected to report back to the County Council by early 2007.

Background information on the Committee's meetings is available here.

More information: County Council resolution   Gazette Washington Post   Baltimore Sun

Framework For Planning In The Future: Agriculture Included
The Department of Park & Planning has prepared what it calls a "Framework Report" (click for background article) analyzing land use patterns in the County, market changes and envisioning "community-scaled redevelopment and infill" - outside the Agricultural Reserve. Community Roundtables have been planned to provide input to the Planning Board. CPR (and other groups, presumably) will speak out in these forums in favor of policies that continue to preserve the reserve while meeting the county's other long-term planning challenges.

Crown Farm Annexation A Major Setback To Farm Preservation, TDRs
"A lost oppportunity" according to Wade Butler. Click for May 3 Gazette article.

Montgomery County Council Votes To Deny Derwood Bible Church Proposal For Rural Laytonsville
Unanimous Vote By County Council Reaffirms Commitment To Preserve The Reserve
In a followup to the passage of the Knapp Amendment and the 5,000 gallon per day cap affecting multi-use water/septic systems for PIFs in the Ag Reserve by the full County Council, the Montgomery County Council voted unanimously to deny the Derwood Bible Church application for a multi-use water/septic system. DBC's 12,525 gallon per day system request went far beyond the 5,000 gallon peak per day limit set by the Knapp amendment.

Montgomery County Council Votes To Limit Groundwater/Septic Systems In Ag Reserve
KNAPP AMENDMENT AND 5,000 GALLON CAP ON MULTI-USE WATER/SEPTIC SYSTEMS PASS UNANIMOUSLY
On February 14, the County Council voted a second time to preserve the reserve. In a followup to last November's vote outlawing water and sewer hookups for PIFs in the Ag Reserve, the Council voted unanimously (Councilman Subin was absent, but submitted his vote later) to pass the Knapp Amendment, which places a limit on the size of multi-use water/septic systems allowable for PIFs in the RDT. The limit is based on the number of housing units that could be constructed on that property under current zoning requirements. The Council also voted unanimously to approve an amendment sponsored by Councilman Tom Perez, imposing a 5,000 gallon per day cap - regardless of the number of housing units that could be built on a particular parcel. CPR supported both amendments.

Click here to read County Council's news release.

Transportation & Environment Committee of Montgomery County Council Votes 3-0 On Knapp Amendment To Limit Size Of Multi-Use Water/Septic Systems In RDT Zone; Amendment Would Affect Derwood Bible Church Proposal
Councilman Knapp's proposed amendment would restrict the capacity of multi-use on-site water systems in the RDT zone by determining the maximum number of residential units that could be constructed on that property based on current zoning requirements and multiplying that number by 600 gallons. The committee's vote sends the Amendment to the full Council for a final vote, at a date to be determined.

County Council Votes To Forbid Water And Sewer Hookups For PIFs in the RDT Zone - Defers Decision on Proposed Laytonsville Complex
At its November 29 meeting the Montgomery County Council voted unanimously to end water and sewer hookups for private institutional facilities in the RDT Zone. Of the entire package of PIF water and sewer category change requests, only two were approved (for People's Community Baptist Church and Church of the Redeemer). The Council voted 6-2 against extending water and sewer service for Bethel World Outreach Ministries International's proposed development in Germantown, which would have been the last PIF to receive water and sewer service in the Ag Reserve. Click for link to Washington Post article. Click for the Council resolution ending water and sewer hookups for PIFs in the RDT Zone. Click for the Council resolution summarizing Council's November 29 votes on water and sewer category changes.

The Council deferred making a decision on the Derwood Bible Church proposal for a megacomplex to be located on 225 acres just outside Laytonsville. That proposal calls for the use of groundwater and septic rather than a water/sewer hookup. County Councilman Mike Knapp has proposed an amendment that would limit the size of multi-use on-site water systems, which would directly affect the proposed Laytonsville development (see item below). CPR is urging the County Council to take the next step - to limit the size and scope of PIF developments in the Agricultural Reserve that would use multi-use systems.

Montgomery County Council Transportation & Environment Committee Votes To Recommend Ban On Extension of Sewer and Water into Agricultural Reserve
From Washington Post 11/11/2005: A Montgomery County Council committee voted yesterday to approve a proposal to ban the extension of public water and sewer lines to churches and other nonprofit organizations in the 93,000-acre agricultural reserve. The unanimous vote of the three-member Transportation and Environment Committee means the proposal will go before the full council this month.

Churches and nonprofits are the only property owners that can receive public water and sewer service in the county's agricultural reserve, where development is strictly limited. But with available land scarce in southern Montgomery, several churches have built large complexes in the reserve.

The committee, along with the Planning, Housing and Economic Development Committee, did not vote on another proposal that would prohibit landowners from building on more than 15 percent of their propoerty in the reserve and on more than 20 percent of their land in rural zones.

Montgomery County Planning Board Votes To Recommend Denial Of Water/Sewer Category Changes For Three Private Institutional Facilities
In a memorandum to the Montgomery County Planning Board, the board's staff recommends denial of the water/sewer category change requests submitted by Derwood Bible Church, The People's Community Baptist Church, and Church of the Redeemer.

In the case of the Derwood Bible Church request, staff recommended a denial of the request based on the following: "(A)pproval of this project will remove approximately 226 acres from the Agricultural Reserve and hence from any future agricultural usage; concern on the character of the resulting neighborhood, concern on the magnitude and type of sewage treatment system to be used; and effects of water withdrawals on local groundwater and any adjoining well systems."

Following testimony October 10, the Planning Board agreed with the staff recommendations and voted to recommend denial of these applications. Link to Gazette article.

Planning Board Votes To Recommend Ban On Extension Of Water & Sewer Service Into Agricultural Reserve Click for link to Washington Post article.

Derwood Bible Church Files Development Plan For Megaplex Development At Route 108 and Griffith Road near Laytonsville
Application # 1-06036, has been filed with Park and
Planning by Derwood Bible Church for its proposed development for 226
acres at Route 108 and Griffith Road north of Laytonsville. The plan
includes an auditorium with 1500 seats, plus clergy offices, school,
gym, a house for missionaries on break, a house to accomodate
at-risk teens, cabins for summer camps, horse stables, a cemetery,
an outdoor amphitheatre, four athletic fields and a playground. A
rendering of the project as of June, 2005 is available by clicking here.


County PIF Working Group Recommendations Released
The Montgomery County Working Group report studying the issue of Private Institutional Facilities (PIF) building on Ag Reserve land has been released to the public. You can view the main body of the report (55 pages) by clicking here. The actual recommendations of the Working Group are as follows:

Recommendation #1:
Revise the Water and Sewer Plan to prohibit sewer hookups and extensions within the RDT zone to serve PIF uses, except in cases of failed septic systems. If approved, this recommendation would mean:

·        Sewer extensions into the RDT zone to accommodate PIFs would be prohibited.

·        Single hookups from existing mains (currently allowed under the abutting mains policy) to serve PIFs would also be prohibited.

Recommendation #2:
The Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Permitting Services should review the Water and Sewer Plan requirements with regard to multi-use sewerage systems (individual, on site sewerage systems with 1500 or more gallons per day peak capacity) and recommend any changes needed to ensure that multi-use systems are properly planned, built, and maintained and do not adversely affect the environment or public health.

Recommendation #3:
Approve a Zoning Text Amendment to:

a.        Add impervious area caps in various zones as originally proposed by M-NCPPC staff that would affect new development and expansions of existing development:

                         i.      15% in the RDT zone (with agricultural uses exempt)

                         ii.      20% in the Rural, RC, RE-2, and RE-1 zones

b.      Grandfather existing developments that exceed these caps, although future expansions would be subject to the cap.

Recommendation #4:
Future Master Plan revisions should identify areas where PIFs are encouraged and/or discouraged and whether water/sewer should be provided to serve these uses.

These recommendations were presented to a County Council joint committee meeting June 30, 2005.

Laytonsville Mayor, Town Council Support Moratorium On Ag Reserve Development
During its regular meeting June 7, the Mayor and Council of the Town of Laytonsville unanimously agreed to ask the Montgomery County Council and the Planning Board to enact a nine month moratorium on new private institutional facilities in the Rural Density Transfer Zone. (The Council recommended that the moratorium not apply to legitimate agricultural uses.)

In a letter signed by Laytonsville Mayor Charles Oland, the County Council and Planning Board are urged to consider regulations to limit the size and scope of these facilities.

According to the letter, the purpose for requesting the moratorium is to allow "time to study the negative impact of large, so-called 'mega-churches' and similar institutions on the agricultural district."

The letter cites the proposed development at Route 108 and Griffith Road and its possible impact on wells and septic, the environment, traffic on rural roads as well as the Historic District in the Town of Laytonsville.