Sec. 34.03.03.05. Application for Certification

A. This regulation applies to an application for certification of a county program that is:

(1) A county’s initial application for certification; or

(2) An application for certification of a county program if the county program had once been certified or recertified but is not certified or recertified at the time of the application.

B. An application for certification of a county program:

(1) Shall be submitted to both the Department and the Foundation on a form prescribed by the Department and the Foundation; and

(2) Shall serve as an application for certification by the Department and the Foundation of the county’s priority preservation area element for purposes of Agriculture Article, §2-518(g), Annotated Code of Maryland.

C. Preliminary Application.

(1) A county may submit a draft application to the Department and the Foundation for preliminary review and comment.

(2) If a county submits a draft application to the Department and the Foundation under this section, the Department and the Foundation must within 45 days after receipt of the draft application provide written comments to the county on the draft application.

D. An application for initial certification of a county program shall:

(1) Include a resolution, ordinance, or other appropriate authorization adopted or issued by the county agricultural preservation advisory board and the county’s governing body that establishes each body’s approval of both the county program and the application for certification;

(2) Include a program evaluation;

(3) Include a summary of how State, local, and other land preservation easement acquisition programs will operate to permanently preserve lands in the county’s priority preservation area at a rate sufficient to achieve State and local land preservation goals;

(4) Include an evaluation of how county and other farming assistance programs operate to support profitable agriculture and forestry activities within the priority preservation area;

(5) Identify the number and locations of residential parcels and acres subdivided and developed within the priority preservation area during the 5-year period that preceded the application;

(6) Identify the total acreage and locations of agricultural and forest land located within the priority preservation area that is permanently preserved through land preservation easements that were recorded in the county’s land records during the 5-year period that preceded the application;

(7) Include the county’s current program development strategy;

(8) Include an inventory, in digital and tabular form, that:

(a) Identifies all properties located within the county that have been permanently preserved by a recorded land preservation easement;

(b) Identifies whether a preserved property is located within or outside of the priority preservation area;

(c) For each property identified, provides:

(i) The number of each tax map on which the parcel appears;

(ii) Each grid cell number of each tax map on which the parcel appears;

(iii) The parcel number that identifies the property on each tax map;

(iv) The tax account identification number;

(v) The total number of acres under easement;

(vi) The date on which the easement became effective;

(vii) The preservation program or entity that holds the easement;

(viii) The means through which the easement was acquired, such as purchase, transfer of development rights between private parties, or another means specified by the county; and

(ix) The easement purchase price, if the easement was purchased through or with financial assistance from a government program; and

(d) Is approved by the Department for content and format; and

(9) Verify that the local plan includes a priority preservation area element that:

(a) Identifies and delineates a priority preservation area that:

(i) Is large enough to support normal agricultural and forestry activities in conjunction with the amount of development permitted by the county in the priority preservation area; and

(ii) Contains productive agricultural or forest soils or, where productive soils are lacking, is capable of supporting profitable agricultural and forestry enterprises;

(b) Is governed by policies, ordinances, regulations, and procedures that operate to:

(i) Stabilize the agricultural and forest land base such that development does not convert or compromise agricultural or forest resources; and

(ii) Support the ability of working farms and forests within the priority preservation area to be utilized for agricultural and forestry activities;

(c) Establishes goals consistent with Regulation .03 of this chapter for the amount and types of agricultural and forest land to be preserved in the priority preservation area, including goals to protect at least 80 percent of the remaining undeveloped acreage within the county’s priority preservation area as calculated at the time of certification of a priority preservation area;

(d) Provides the rationale used to establish the land preservation goals;

(e) Includes maps that delineate the county’s priority preservation area;

(f) Describes the priority preservation area in the context of the county’s growth management plans;

(g) Describes the ways in which the land preservation goals will be accomplished in the priority preservation area, including the county’s strategy to:

(i) Protect land from development through zoning;

(ii) Preserve the desired amount of land with permanent land preservation easements; and

(iii) Maintain a rural environment capable of supporting agricultural and forestry activities; and

(h) Describes the county’s methods and strategies to concentrate preservation funds and other supporting efforts in the priority preservation area.