Examiner Staff Writer The Montgomery County Planning Board is scheduled to reconsider a decision to allow a residential development in the county’s agriculture reserve, an area in the north part of the county established to protect farmland from falling victim to suburban sprawl.
Last month, the board said Hilltop Farms Ltd. could divide its 232.7 acres into eight lots — seven lots clustered in 25 acres designated for residences, with the remaining 207-acre lot dedicated to the existing horse farm and agricultural buildings.
The decision resulted from two 2008 court decisions in a legal battle that isn’t over.
Peter Eeg, a neighbor of one of the residential lots, and the Boyds Civic Association recently filed requests for the planning board to reconsider. Both want to preserve the land for agricultural use. The planning board will review the requests at Thursday’s meeting.
Eeg and his neighbors “do not want to see the agriculture land carved up into a little series of hamlets,” said David Brown, attorney for Eeg’s family and another family who live near the lots.
This is not the first subdivision in the agriculture reserve, planning board attorney Carol Rubin said, and residential development is permitted under zoning laws. Opponents of the Hilltop Farms development say the large residential lots don’t leave enough room for farming.
Eeg filed his request after board staff said the proposed lots could be made smaller while still fulfilling septic requirements, Brown said. Because the court based its decision on the staff’s previous finding that the lots could not feasibly be any smaller, Eeg wants a chance to respond to the new finding.
Making the lots smaller doesn’t make a lot of sense because of the lots’ shapes, Rubin said.
But Brown said another problem is that farms and “nonfarm residences” don’t mix.
“There have already been conflicts where there are complaints launched about smells and noise,” said Montgomery Countryside Alliance Executive Director Caroline Taylor.
