Md. Code Regs. 15.15.05.01
Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 22, November 1, 2024
Section 15.15.05.01 - PurposeA. This chapter provides the process for an eligible landowner to request that the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation terminate an agricultural land preservation easement. Each easement granted to the Foundation is of perpetual duration and may be terminated only under extraordinary circumstances. The easement's broad purpose is to: (1) Provide a present and future source of agricultural products within the State for the citizens of the State;(2) Control urban expansion, which is consuming the agricultural land and woodland of the State;(3) Curb the spread of urban blight and deterioration; and(4) Protect agricultural land and woodland as open-space land.B. An easement may be reviewed for possible termination 25 years after the purchase of the easement, but only if the Board of Public Works approved the easement for purchase before October 1, 2004, unless the right to apply to terminate the easement has been waived in the deed of easement or in a subsequent written instrument.C. As Agriculture Article, § 2-514, Annotated Code of Maryland, provides, a termination must be approved by the Foundation and by the county governing body where the land is located. Similar to when an easement is purchased, the Foundation and the county have separate duties and responsibilities when reviewing an easement for possible termination. In the case of easement termination, the county's responsibility is to consider factors relating to local land use policies, while the Foundation's separate responsibility is to determine whether future profitable farming is feasible on the land under easement. The Foundation may only approve the termination if it finds that future profitable farming is not feasible. If either the county or the Foundation deny any termination request, an easement may not be terminated.Md. Code Regs. 15.15.05.01
Regulation .01 adopted effective 45:20 Md. R. 919, eff. 10/8/2018