Members of Montgomery County’s farm community are divided when it comes to the County Council’s proposed bill introduced last month that would allow campgrounds to be built in more types of zoned areas throughout the county, including the upcounty Agricultural Reserve.
Currently, campgrounds are only allowed in the Rural (R) and Residential Estate 2C (RE-2C) zones under the county zoning ordinance.
The proposed zoning text amendment is sponsored by councilmembers Marilyn Balcombe (D-Dist. 2), Sidney Katz (D-Dist. 3), Natali Fani-González (D-Dist. 6) and Dawn Luedtke (D-Dist. 7).
If passed, it would allow campgrounds for tents and recreational vehicles in the Agricultural (AR) and specific Residential Rural (RC) zones. The Agricultural Reserve is a 93,000-acre zoned area in the upcounty where only one house is allowed per 25 acres, according to zoning laws. Overnight stays also would be allowed, with a goal of boosting agritourism in the county, according to county officials.
Under the county code, a campground is defined as a “parcel, lot, or tract of land used for two or more tent or recreational vehicle campsites.” This definition does not include manufactured homes.
At a public hearing during Tuesday’s council meeting in Rockville, some members of the county’s agricultural community praised the proposal while others opposed it.
Robert Cissel Jr., director of Montgomery Agricultural Producers, an organization representing local farmers who want to protect the agricultural reserve, thanked the council for its engagement with several farming and agricultural groups in the area on drafting of the legislation, and said he looks forward to its passage.
“You don’t hear about us all working together collectively very often, but this is something we can agree to, and we look forward to the finished product when it comes out of committee,” Cissel said.
But others said the change, if approved, would hurt farmland in the county.
The proposal is “nothing more than an assault on the integrity of the agricultural reserve,” said Patricia Milligan, who owns a farm in the agricultural reserve. “This was done for money and not for the good of the farmers, the residents, humans and others or the land.”
According to Luedtke, the proposed zoning text amendment is designed to prevent a “sprawl” of development in the Agricultural Reserve.
The proposal “takes that commitment seriously, and it contains a number of critical standards for campground use, including requiring that the property be primarily used for farming, allowing only properties of 25 acres or larger to take part in this program, and limiting the size and impact of campgrounds to protect water levels and ensure this land can be used for farming in the future,” Luedtke said when she introduced the bill in June.
The legislation is a new version of a previous bill sponsored by Fani-González and introduced in November 2023 that would have allowed tourists to stay overnight on farms as part of agritourism activities. That zoning measure would have updated the county’s zoning ordinance to allow incidental overnight stays on farms with agritourism businesses with certain limits.
Under the previously proposed legislation, accessory agricultural education and tourism activities would have had to be conducted as part of the farm’s regular operation. Overnight stays would have had to occur in structures separate from any residence on the property and cooking facilities would have been prohibited in sleeping quarters structures. Only two people over the age of 18 could have stayed in one structure, and only for a maximum of four days per week. Each farm or facility would have been allowed to have a maximum of 10 structures for overnight stays.
However, that bill drew controversy, with local farm associations voicing concern that the zoning amendment would lead to increased development in the Agricultural Reserve and other rural areas.
Some speakers Tuesday shared more nuanced views, supporting the idea of the proposed legislation but asking for more clarifications and changes to the way the bill is currently written, and endorsing recommendations made by the Montgomery County Planning Board to amend the bill and limit the number of allowed camping structures.
“We agree with the recommendations of five removable structures, similar to the proposed limit of five recreational vehicles. We also agree with increasing [stays] to three nights to accommodate a three-day weekend,” said Doug Lechlider, vice president of the Montgomery County Farm Bureau, adding that the group’s goal “is preserving prime and productive soils for agriculture production. That’s why we take all of these things so serious. There’s only so much land out here.”
Some people who spoke at the hearing said they were concerned about camp sites being an eyesore.
“RVs must be removed from the proposed amendment. The generator is loud. They’re ugly. The open space will be ruined having RV here and there. There needs to be some guidelines for the look and feel of the tent and removable structures,” said Marcia Nass, who lives in the Agricultural Reserve.
Other speakers said approval of the proposed zoning amendment would be a great opportunity for local farmers.
“[This would provide] the opportunity for young farmers like ourselves to welcome guests to our farm for an immersive and educational farm day, while creating vital supplemental income with low energy and environmental impact,” said Ashley Johnson, one of the owners of Burnt Hill Farm in Clarksburg.
A Planning, Housing and Parks Committee meeting on the legislation will be held Monday. A vote on the legislation has not yet been scheduled.