Easement

WASHINGTON COUNTY -- After balking at the prices for easements for an intersection project near Valley Mall last week, the Washington County Commissioners voted 4-1 Tuesday to approve the easement acquisitions. The vote will allow county staff to move forward with the purchase of $216,100 worth of temporary and permanent easements from the owners of Valley Mall and Valley Plaza Shopping Center. The easements are needed for a project to widen the intersection of Halfway and Massey boulevards, Deputy Director of Public Works Robert J. Slocum said.

MARTINSBURG, W.Va. - Three proposed conservation easements totaling 123 acres received approval Thursday from the Berkeley County Commission. An 81.5-acre property known as Hammond farm adjoining the county's Poorhouse Farm Park west of Martinsburg was the largest of the parcels, said Clint Hogbin, chairman of the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board. Also approved were the 38-acre "Craig Burkhart" property in Back Creek Valley near the community of Jones Spring, and a 3.5-acre donated easement by Scott Roach just west of Martinsburg off Tuscarora Pike.

The Maryland Board of Public Works has approved conservation easements for a number of Washington County areas as well as Program Open Space funds for various park projects, Gov. Robert Ehrlich's office announced Wednesday. The board approved funding from the state's Rural Legacy Program to purchase easements aimed at preserving farmlands, forests, wildlife habitats, wetlands, views of historic sites, Civil War sites and watershed lands. They include: $300,000 to acquire easements in the Mid-Maryland Washington County Rural Legacy Area to protect farmland, forests, the South Mountain Civil War battlefield, a view of Antietam Battlefield and a greenbelt around Sharpsburg.

WASHINGTON COUNTY - The Washington County Commissioners will hold a public hearing today to decide which local farms will be able to sell preservation easements to the state this year. The public hearing will be at 11 a.m. during the County Commissioners' regular weekly meeting. Residents will be allowed to comment on a list of 25 farms that the county has ranked as most eligible for the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Program. Every year, under the farmland preservation program, the state buys easements from local farm owners.

Washington County has received a $1.3 million grant from Maryland's Rural Legacy land preservation program, Farmland Preservation Administrator Eric Seifarth told the County Commissioners Tuesday. The county had asked for a $1.6 million grant to buy land easements. Last year, the county received a $1.8 million grant to buy land from about 25 property owners, he said. Both grants will be used primarily to protect land around Antietam National Battlefield from development. Property owners will receive an average of $1,800 to $2,000 per acre in exchange for agreeing to protect their land from development and other restrictions, Seifarth said.

ANNAPOLIS --A 60-acre property near Antietam National Battlefield has been approved for a conservation easement by Maryland's Board of Public Works, the Maryland Department of Natural Resources said in a press release Wednesday. The easement, part of the state's Rural Legacy Program, will preserve the historically significant land, known as the Meyers Property, for future generations, the release said. "By protecting this land, we are not only supporting an ecologically important area, but preserving an important piece of our State's history," Gov. Martin O'Malley was quoted as saying in the release.

The next owner of the 200-year-old Boydville estate in Martinsburg will be expected to adhere to a set of preservation and conservation easements. Exactly what the property restrictions should entail will be the subject of an Aug. 16 special meeting of the Berkeley County Farmland Protection Board, which currently owns the 13-acre property. The farmland board, which acquired Boydville in 2005 for $2.25 million, has since been unsuccessful in finding a new use for the property or a new owner.

Washington County has been approved for a $500,000 grant to preserve forest and farmland through Maryland's Rural Legacy Program, state officials announced this week. The award is part of $12.6 million in Rural Legacy allocations approved Wednesday by the Board of Public Works, according to a press release from the Maryland Department of Natural Resources (DNR). The funds will be used to buy permanent easements preventing development of land within the Mid-Maryland Washington Rural Legacy Area, an area of about 40,000 acres around Antietam National Battlefield, said Eric Seifarth, Washington County's rural preservation administrator.

Legal proceedings involving a planned, $6.3 million storm water project in the Borough of Waynesboro could delay or cancel the work, borough officials said Wednesday. At issue are property easements for work on a storm water outfall along Cemetery Avenue. Engineers say the outfall is the major cause of flooding in yards and homes in the south end of town. Borough Solicitor Sam Wiser said easements are needed from the owners of six properties. Three already signed off, he said.