The Calvert County Board of County Commissioners (BOCC) and the Agricultural Preservation Advisory Board announce the opening of the application period for the county’s Purchase and Retirement (PAR) Fund program. Through the program, Transferable Development Rights (TDRs) are purchased, retired and permanently removed from the market to protect farmland from development.
Applications are accepted from the owners of Agricultural Preservation Districts and ranked by an established formula. The purchase price approved by the BOCC is $3,750 per TDR. The funding includes a small portion of agricultural transfer taxes which are funds dedicated for agricultural land preservation. The remaining funds come from prior year Land Preservation Fund balances and $739,000 from the county’s General Fund.
The PAR Fund program is part of Calvert County’s longstanding effort to preserve agricultural land. The county has preserved more than 29,900 acres of productive farms and forests over the past 30 years. With the budget allotment, Calvert County can purchase up to 730 of the available TDRs still eligible for purchase through the PAR program.
The application deadline is Friday, Dec. 1, 2017, at 4:30 p.m. Applications are available on the county website under Agriculture Preservation in the Planning & Zoning section, or at the following link: FY 2018 PAR Application Form.
Completed applications should be sent to Planning & Zoning, Attention: Rural Planner Rachel O’Shea, 150 Main St., Prince Frederick, Md., 20678 or emailed to rachel.oshea@calvertcountymd.gov. To learn more, email or call O’Shea at 410-535-1600, ext. 2339. For information on Calvert County Government, visit www.co.cal.md.us