The next County Council, which will be seated on Dec. 3, will decide the county’s next steps, if any, on small cell towers.
Lacking a clear majority for passage, the current council deferred action on zoning regs that would have decided where the towers could be placed. State law prevents a county council from enacting zoning or land use regulations after Oct. 31 in an election year. The new council’s first session is scheduled for Dec. 4.

More from My MC Media

Breaking:  We understand that the Small Cell bill and associated procedural change at the Office of Administrative Appeals have both been pulled.  Bethesda Beat has covered the cell bill here. 
​
While this change to limit the public process has been pulled today, it may be revived at any point. Please read on for the original post. 

Montgomery County Council eyes limiting public participation before the Office of Administrative Appeals for proceedings such as conditional approvals of land uses. In question is rule 4.2 e. to curtail the amount of time each side - for and against- is allowed to speak in a hearing regardless of the number of individuals/organizations on either side. There are often many unrelated parties in these sorts of hearings. In this case - an eye on the clock could very easily be public participation denied.  And - this change for less public participation is being considered without a public hearing. What?! 

Testimony from MCA , Sugarloaf Citizens Association, Conservation Montgomery, Friends of Ten Mile Creek  and land use attorneyBill Chen

Write the Councilmemembers and County Executive with the form below to tell them to keep the participation rules unchanged in these administrative appeals hearings. Without a public hearing - this is the only way to make your voice heard. 
​

From Our Friends at American Farmland Trust:

​The American Farmland Trust has partnered with Montgomery County and Montgomery Countryside Alliance to their Women For The Land program this September 2018. The program is a Conservation Learning Circle for women landowners.  The Conservation Learning Circle is a quick way to network with other landowners and learn how to access free conservation programs offered by state and local agencies. 

There was a sense of history echoing through the 2018 Royce Hanson Award Celebration on Sunday. MCA Co-President Gene Kingsbury welcomed guests with a poem he wrote (Read 'Timothy Time' here) about making hay with his father many years ago as he reflected that the Rustic Roads of the Reserve were mostly unchanged since then. 

Executive Director Caroline Taylor called event goers to the present with an impassioned defense of the Reserve's current farmers as policy changes and increasingly unpredictable weather events make it even harder to make a living as a small producer. The farmers require many different kinds of support to keep their businesses viable and Rustic Roads are one piece of that support. 

MCA would like to thank our board, volunteers, St Mary's Pavilion, Peace Run, photographer David Ris, the Rustic Roads Advisory Committee, Senator Brian Feldman, Dr. Royce Hanson and particularly Dolores Milmoe for helping with the event.  All of David's excellent photos of the event can be found here. 

Dear Friends and Neighbors,
Did you know that one-third of Montgomery County is set aside for Agriculture and Open Space Preservation?
Fruit, vegetables, grain, herbs, cider, wine and beer are among the products of our Agricultural Reserve. Clean water, clean air, and a link to history are among the essential and irreplaceable benefits provided by our Ag Reserve. 
Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA) is a group of dedicated experts and advocates, working since 2001 to support farmers in the Ag Reserve, and protect our countryside from many threats. Along with Audubon Naturalist Society, MCA co-led the campaign to Save Ten Mile Creek. MCA was instrumental in establishing the Friends of Ten Mile Creek and Little Seneca Reservoir.
Ably staffed by Caroline Taylor, MCA Executive Director, and Kristina Bostick, Senior Conservation Associate, along with volunteers and Board members, MCA's work is essential - if we are to preserve what we love most about our county.
Please join us in supporting and celebrating the work of Montgomery Countryside Alliance on Saturday, November 17, 2018, at our House Party and Fundraiser for MCA. ​We'll serve food and drink grown and produced in the Ag Reserve. Space is limited!
Please bring your checkbooks - or donate on-line - to support this vital work. Donations of any amount are welcomed and deeply appreciated. Suggested donation:  $50.00
Yours for the Ag Reserve,
Diane Cameron, Joseph Horgan & Marion Edey

Here We Go Again (Again).... Press Release Here

1988, 2001, 2004, 2015 and 2017- all years that a Potomac bridge and highway crossing have been studied and found to not be a good solution.  And yet- the Supervisors in Loudoun County have funded yet another study to identify crossing points. Loudoun's study even parrots the negative findings of the 2017 Regional Transportation Planning Board: ​

So... why are we studying it again, again?

MCA joins with our partners at Coalition for Smarter Growth and Piedmont Environmental Council, collectively representing our hundreds of thousands of supporters on both sides of the River in calling for Loudoun County to drop this campaign and instead focus on proven solutions that will actually get traffic moving - among them, fixing the American Legion Bridge and better planning land use patterns. As proven for the 5th time in 20 years, this project does not offer traffic relief and would do great harm. 

The Maryland side of the map above makes it looks like the Ag Reserve has no obstacles to these proposed crossing points. MCA has made the case time and again  - farms are not holding ground for future development, they are small businesses that supply our basic needs for food and fiber.  “The bridge would directly impact the drinking water intakes for most of the region’s population; potentially impair the Piedmont groundwater aquifer, which serves as the sole source of drinking water in rural Montgomery County; create development pressure in the nationally recognized Agricultural Reserve; and increase vehicle miles traveled,” says Taylor.

Montgomery Countryside Alliance  is the small (but mighty!) organization founded around Ag Reserve kitchen tables to battle back plans for the bridge in 2001. Since then, we have grown to a full fledged watchdog organization for Montgomery County's Agricultural Reserve. Our focus on local farms relies on local support. Please make a tax-deductible donation to keep us engaging tenaciously on the issues that matter to you. 

The Lady Farmer Slow Living Retreat is for the modern woman seeking an inspired and healthful life through changes in energy management, consumer behavior and daily rituals. You are invited to be nourished by organically cultivated and locally sourced food, and connect with yourself and others in a meaningful way. Taking place at Zigbone Retreat Center in Frederick County the perfect balance between retreat-style introspection and self care, and conference-style personal development workshops on topics such as organic gardening and living more sustainably.
​
The agenda includes speakers on a variety of topics including gardening in any space, farm-to-closet conscious consumerism, affirmative writing, a nature therapy session and more. 

Who doesn't love a farm tour? 

On October 2nd, the Councilmembers voted unanimously to pass  zoning text amendment 18-03 - a ZTA governing breweries and wineries and event venues in the Ag Reserve and Rural Zone (see map above).

 From the start we have had serious concerns about this ZTA. Breweries and Winerys can be great value added parts of a farm business when they are an accessory to the farm and are sized to complement the farms around them. This ZTA is very light on the details that would distinguish between a farm accessory and an outsized event facility that just happens to be on a farm making products with outsourced ingredients. 
​
Despite many hundreds of pieces of correspondence from local residents and farmers, the Council has rushed this zoning change through with a whisper of a public hearing. We are currently consulting with counsel on the legality of this decision as pertains to the Master Plan. 

Some problems with the ZTA:
 -Breweries and distilleries would only have to grow 1 acre of ingredients on the farm and could source the remainder from anywhere else.
-Each facility can host events up to 50 days per year, with nine  that serve more than 300 with no upward cap. 
-There is no provision for how large the facilities can be.
- Set backs from the road or other properties are minimal at 75 feet
-The ZTA is silent on mitigating water/septic use for these facilities.Alcohol production is a water intensive process now being sited in an area with a Federally Designated Sole Source Aquifer. All Ag Reserve properties (by design) are on septic, not County sewer. 
-There has been no evaluation to the cumulative impact of these facilities on rural roads, water quality and existing farms. 

Press:
Bethesda Magazine
Washington Post

​What can you do?

Use the form below to let your Councilmember know that you have concerns about the zoning change and ask that they put in place standards that will help to ensure that it does not negatively impact other farming enterprises and rural communities... such as a maximum size for the tasting room facilities that could be permitted without a process of review. 

Montgomery Countryside Alliance is the award winning, small (but mighty!) organization on the ground protecting local farms in Montgomery County. Our local focus relies on local support. Be a friend of the Ag Reserve with your tax deductible contribution. And Thanks!

Each year, MCA honors an Ag Reserve champion with the Royce Hanson Award, named for it's first recipient, Dr. Royce Hanson, the Architect of the Reserve during his tenure as Chair of  the Montgomery County Planning Board, part of the of the National Capital Park and Planning Commission. 
Protecting the Reserve takes more than a few tenacious individuals - sustained collective effort is required to keep working farms on the landscape. Sometimes this effort takes the form of years of meetings, stacks of maps and engineering documents plus a dizzying array of acronyms.  This year, we are proud to honor the Rustic Roads Advisory Committee for their efforts in protecting the arteries of the Ag Reserve, Montgomery County's Rustic Roads. 

Why Rustic Roads? (Map Here)

Support for the Ag Reserve
​Today, the Rustic Roads continue to support local farming and the Agricultural Reserve. These slow, narrow, historic roads allow for sharing the roads with slow-moving farm equipment and horses. For visitors to pick-your-own farms, wineries and on-farm breweries, the small roads underscore the nature of the working landscape and enhance the experience of driving or riding a bike through the Reserve. ​
As envisioned in the 1980 Preservation of Agriculture & Rural Open Space Functional Master Plan, the Rustic Roads avoid artificially stimulating the market for conversion of farmland to residential development. 

​History
Rustic Roads are historic and scenic roads that reflect the agricultural character and rural origins of Montgomery County. Because of this program, today, we can travel along Native American trails, wagon routes, mill roads, lock roads and market roads. 
​

Montgomery County was early in recognizing the value of our small, historic, farm roads, with the County Council appointing a Task Force to study the issue in 1989, and establishing the program in County law in 1993. Through the Council’s approval of two functional master plans and ten area master plans, 98 roads have been placed in the program. Residents have nominated over a dozen more roads for addition to the program, so the program, and the community support for it, continues to grow.