NEWS & VIEWS What is wrong with Ann Arundel County? continued... T e meeting closed with a commitment by
all parties to work together to establish new agricultural exemptions to existing county re- quirements that refl ect the realities of farming in this county. Farm owners were encouraged to email additional comments and suggestions for new policy to the Heather Beygo at hrb@
cls-law.com or Steuart Pittman at dodonfarm@
verizon.net.
Phase 2: Fixing it
SOIL CONSERVATION BOARD T e proposed onerous permitting require- ments put together by Soil Conservation Dis- trict Manager Jim Stein and staff from Permits and Inspections were tabled at the Soil Conser- vation District’s June 21 meeting as promised. Steuart Pittman, Heather Beygo, and Christy Clagget attended the meeting and presented specifi c requests to the Board. One of those requests was that the Board rescind its written policy stating that indoor and outdoor riding “rinks” are nonagricultural buildings. Despite our assurances that we see Soil Conservation as our ally in this campaign, none of our proposals were accepted. It was a very divided board.
AAEDC AG ADVISORY COMMITTEE T e Anne Arundel Economic Development
Corporation’s Agricultural Advisory Commit- tee met on June 30 to address the same issues with respect to all farms. T at committee ap- proved supporting defi nitions and ag exemp- tions to building and grading permits that would allow our horse farms to continue to operate and modernize.
COUNTY EXECUTIVE’S WORKING GROUP County Executive Leopold asked his direc- tors of Permits and Inspections and Zoning to meet with Soil Conservation’s Jim Stein under
the supervision of his Director of Government Relations, Alan Friedman. T e purpose of the meeting was to revisit the work that Stein and Permits and Inspections had done already on farm permitting. Mr. Stein later reported to the Agricultural Advisory Committee that they were looking at a system where farms who have up-to-date Farm Plans with Soil Conservation would go through a less expensive process for permits that would reduce the involvement of engineers. When asked how Soil Conservation would handle the fact that there is a long wait- ing list to get a Farm Plan updated and that most of the horse farms do not now have cur- rent plans, Mr. Stein suggested that the staff from the urban side of soil conservation could be trained to do Farm Plans. T e response to this suggestion from the Ag Advisory Com- mittee was not warm. While Mr. Stein did say that part of the pur- pose of a new agricultural permitting track was to avoid engineering costs, the most recent per- mitting case that we know of is a warning to us. A woman who recently bought land in our county to create a horse farm was told by Mr. Stein that the permitting process on farms is being reworked, and that for her it would be diff erent. He promptly referred her to an engi- neer to do survey work that added thousands of dollars to her project but contributed nothing to its quality. T e County Executive’s working group will be expanded in a positive direction, to include Lisa Barge, the staff er for the Agricultural Ad- visory Committee. Otherwise, however, it is still dominated by the people who wrote the guidelines that we are working so hard to have rejected. We will need to decide whether to support this group’s work or to propose legis- lation of our own. T e answer will depend on what they produce in the coming weeks.
ANNE ARUNDEL COUNTY FARM BUREAU At the request of Anne Arundel Farm Bureau
Vice President Milly Welsh, Steuart Pittman attended the August board meeting. Steuart asked the board to support eff orts to write and pass legislation to create ag exemptions to building and grading permits. After an excel- lent discussion of the issues, the board passed a motion by Milly stating that President Jeff Griffi th would write a letter in support of this eff ort. A number of board members encouraged more horse farm owners to join Farm Bureau and attend the October 3 Annual Meeting at the Edgewater Police Station.
WE NEED YOUR STORIES TOLD T e time to speak up is now. We have had
too few specifi cs about what we have been told by county staff when we seek permits. We need your stories, and we need details! Please con- tact us as soon as possible at Heather Beygo at
hrb@cls-law.com or Steuart Pittman at dodon-
farm@verizon.net. Retribution for speaking up is a concern to all
of us. T ere is probably not a single farm in the county that has obtained all the permits that they require for all of the building and grading that has been done, or that didn’t have to lie to get the permits they have. T e bureaucracy is making criminals of us, but our elected offi cials want to defend us. Go to
equiery.com to fi ll out a survey. It is this information that will con- vince the politicians that we have a problem!
Steuart Pittman is the current Maryland Horse Council president. Steuart resides at his Dodon Farm in Davidsonville where he runs a breeding and training facility.
COLUMBIA HORSE CENTER DRESSAGE
September 25 Judge: Evelyn Pfoutz (L) Opening date: August 29
Closing date: September 19
Opening date: September 26 Closing date: October 17
October 22 Judge: TBA
November 20 Judge: Trisha de Rosa (L)
Opening date: October 24 Closing date: November 14
10400 Gorman Rd Laurel, MD
www.columbiahorsecenter.com 301-776-5850
10 | THE EQUIERY | SEPTEMBER 2011
FALL 2011 SCHOOLING SERIES
SHOW
September 18 October 15 November 13
800-244-9580 |
www.equiery.com
HUNTER/ JUMPER
838454-110911
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