The County’s Critical Farms Program assists individuals and families in the purchase of qualifying farm properties and requires the properties to be subsequently preserved by a conservation easement with the State of Maryland.

On April 6, 2022, the County Agricultural Land Preservation Advisory Board granted preliminary approval of the Critical Farms Program application of Douglas C. Zepp and Sandra J. Zepp, the contract purchasers of a 109.399-acre farm at 2525 Salem Bottom Road, Westminster.  Subsequently, the Board of County Commissioners granted preliminary approval of the application on April 21, 2022.  An appraisal was conducted by John McDonough Jr. & Associates and was reviewed by an independent valuation consultant.

The Critical Farms Program provides purchase assistance to farm buyers at 52.5% of the purchase price or the appraised value, whichever is lower.  For this applicant, the assistance of $574,350.00 is based on the appraisal price of $1,094,000.00. The applicant agrees to preserve the property through the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation. The County’s purchase assistance amount is credited toward the County’s share (40 percent) of the easement cost and maybe a full reimbursement of the assistance amount depending on funding allocation and farm ranking.