Who Are We?
Founded in 1973, the Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association (SCA) is a nonprofit, voluntary organization. Our primary purpose is to protect and preserve the Ag Reserve— the 93,000 acres of northern and western Montgomery County zoned in the 1980s for farming, open space, land conservation, and rural life.
We promote and advocate for sound environmental stewardship in the Ag Reserve and the county as a whole, as defined in the Ag Reserve Master Plan. And we monitor laws and regulations that relate to the Ag Reserve and environmental policy
Join, donate, or renew your membership in SCA! Just click here!
SCA Board Meeting
Monday, Sept. 13, 7:30pm
members welcome, email for information
Watch this video!
When we work together, there's so much the Ag Reserve can to help make our County more energy independent, more food secure and more climate resilient. Let's be #SmartonSolar!
A short video about why it's so important to protect class 2 soils and conditional use.
The Draft Climate Action Plan
We look for and welcome your suggestions, concerns and questions about what's going on in the Ag Reserve. Please email us here.
The Agricultural Reserve is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year. This map shows where Montgomery County has designated 93,000 acres to the preservation of farmland. See a larger version here.
See "Growing Legacy,” a terrific portrait of the Ag Reserve, produced by Montgomery Countryside Alliance. Here’s the link to the 30 minute film. MCA has a synopsis here.
staff login
The Draft Sugarloaf Area Plan—What Now? August 30, 2021
The draft of a land-use and zoning plan for the Sugarloaf Mountain area, released this summer by Frederick County, has potential benefits for conservation, environmental protection and the rural character of the immediate area. However, one part of the plan presents a serious threat to adjacent farm and undeveloped land that has long been an extension of the rural Sugarloaf Mountain area and Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve.
The 176-page “Sugarloaf Mountain Treasured Landscape Management Plan”—part of a larger initiative called the Livable Frederick Master Plan, adopted in 2019—is detailed and complex. This web post doesn’t attempt to give an overview of it. You can get a copy of the full plan, along with related materials, maps, and a useful FAQ document here.
Rather, this post aims to inform you about the emerging dispute over the apparent behind-closed-doors carve-out of 490 acres from the plan’s proposed land-use rules and zoning regulations. The 490 acres was included in the original Sugarloaf Plan when it last reviewed by the Sugarloaf Stakeholders' Advisory Group in March. (SCA is represented on this group by SCA board member Tina Brown.) But then the group was told by county officials that the draft plan would be delayed. No reason for the delay was given other than: “other priorities.”
Four months later, in late July, a revised Sugarloaf Area Plan emerged with the 490-acre carve-out—taking the plan’s encompassed protected land from 17,630 acres to 17,140 acres. While that may sound like a small chunk, it turns out to be an important chunk and its new designation is ominous.
First, it turns out that most of that land is owned by a developer named Tom Natelli. Mr. Natelli is the principal developer of Urbana. Second, the carved-out land is now identified as a potential future “Urbana Community Growth Area.” The land is made up of 32 private properties of variable but mostly small size. Mr. Natelli’s property is an estimated 380 acres of the carve-out.
The entire carved-out area is located on the west side of I-270 in the vicinity of that highway’s interchange with MD Route 80 (Fingerboard Rd). It’s mostly forested or agricultural land now, with some small farms and rural residential properties. Mr. Natelli’s property, previously zoned as rural/agricultural is already undergoing changes. He has razed farm buildings and is having the land “replatted.”
Members of the Sugarloaf Stakeholders' Advisory Group say they fully intended the carved-out 490-acre parcel to be protected in the final draft, and were not informed of the carve-out in advance of the draft plan’s release in July. Moreover, they say that the basis for their discussions with county staff included the assumption that I-270 would remain, as it has for years, a natural dividing line between the developed commercial and residential areas (including Urbana) to the north and east of I-270 and the preserved agricultural and open space land to the west and south of I-270.
The Frederick County Division of Planning and Permitting held two virtual open forums on the plan on August 17 and 19. During these presentations, staff did not explain the reason for the delay or the carve-out, or who made the carve-out decision. However, staff did explain that the carved-out land was now earmarked for possible re-zoning to meet the “future needs” for commercial and/or residential development and growth in northern Montgomery County located along the I-270 corridor.
They also sought to emphasize that their proposal was a draft, subject to change, and not “a done deal.” Many steps in the process remain, they said.
Some 27 area residents called in to the forums. All were strongly opposed to the carve-out. Most expressed a desire to prevent commercial or residential development in the area, and to preserve it as open space, for small farms, and for agricultural use consistent with the plan’s design for the immediate Sugarloaf Mountain area. Many expressed concerns that if the carve-out were to be authorized, it would represent the “camel’s nose under the tent” for the encroachment of significant development in an area the original plan sought to preserve and protect.
Next steps: Staff of the Frederick County planning office are duty bound to pass resident’s comments, and any emails or letters they get, to the Frederick Planning Commission leadership. The public can comment on the plan until September 6. Planning Commission work sessions begin September 15. The commission can revise the plan before voting on it. That proposal then moves to the Frederick County Council for public debate and a vote. The County Council has the legislative authority to revise the Sugarloaf Plan boundaries and all other aspects of the plan before the final vote.
SCA strongly opposes the carve-out and will fight to have that land reinstated in the plan and its maps, and thus subject to the same conservation and environmental measures as the rest of the Sugarloaf Mountain area. We do not support commercial or large scale residential developments west and south of I-270. This area should be preserved for agriculture and particularly for small to medium size farming.
We otherwise support the framework of the Sugarloaf Mountain Treasured Landscape Management Plan—with the proviso that enforcement measures are added.
Please join us, and residents who live in the affected area, in our fight to block the carve-out. It takes arable land out of farming and presents a threat to the Ag Reserve. You can email comments to the Planning Commission staff at: sugarloafareaplan@frederickcountymd.gov
We’ll keep you informed of developments and opportunities to further engage. Your voice in this fight could be decisive. Thanks.
Update – Summer 2021
SCA initiatives continue as summer commences and as the U.S. begins to emerge from the world-shaking event that was the pandemic.
Most prominently, we continue to engage with the County Executive’s office and County Council on issues revolving around the county’s draft climate action plan. You can read all about that plan here and download the PDF of the plan itself.
The draft climate action plan proposes cutting greenhouse gas emissions 80% by 2027 and 100% by 2035. That’s appropriately ambitious in our view but will be a significant challenge. Initial steps are already underway. The full plan will be finalized next year.
Perhaps the major lesson of the pandemic is that planning for large-impact events cannot be put off. As we all know, mitigation of climate change is among the highest global, national and local priorities.
SCA’s primary mission to protect and preserve the Ag Reserve has broad overlap with the goals of the county’s climate action plan. For example, SCA is deeply involved in the county’s planning around trash disposal and recycling given the history of the Dickerson incinerator and our attempts over years to shutter that facility. We are now part of a county-wide coalition—Zero Waste Montgomery County—exploring cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solutions for the county’s waste.
We’ll keep you updated on developments in climate change mitigation and waste disposal policy in the county.
SCA held its annual membership meeting via Zoom on April 29. We’re sorry if you missed it. Our board-member subject-area experts presented updates on a range of issues and a vote ushered in the officers and board of directors for 2021-22. A PDF of the slide deck from the meeting contains the presentations. Here are a few highlights:
The solar energy zoning change. We fought a long battle in 2020-21 to alter a proposal that now allows farmers in the Ag Reserve, working with solar developers, to place solar arrays on their land. We, along with Montgomery Countryside Alliance and other groups, won. The final zoning change allows solar development in the Ag Reserve but all initiatives will require review and approval by county regulators and the new zoning ordinance prevents solar arrays on prime arable land. See notes about this issue here.
The Dickerson incinerator. Last November, the county’s Division of Solid Waste Management, in a report, supported the incinerator’s continued operation for the foreseeable future. County Executive Marc Elrich asked SCA to lead an analysis of the report. We agreed and spearheaded an effort to form the county-wide Coalition for Zero Waste Montgomery County. With SCA financial support we hired experts to produce a comprehensive report that demonstrates a definitive path forward for our county away from incineration.
SCA vice president Lauren Greenberger led the effort and her notes on it can be found here.
The upshot: the incinerator continues to emits over 600,000 tons of greenhouse gases and toxic substances that affect our health—not the 12,000 tons reported by the Division of Solid Waste staff. The incinerator is old and will require $70 million in capital costs just to keep it open for the next 20 years. The facility will also require an estimated $95 million investment to bring it up to the modern standards. The better choice environmentally and financially is to close the incinerator and truck trash to well-managed landfills in remote areas that do not impact local populations. We found over 20 suitable sites. Such a move would cut the county’s greenhouse gas emissions in half.
Regenerative agriculture. SCA’s Linden Farm is evolving. It’s going regenerative! What does that mean? Board member Ellen Gordon explains it all here, with a bit of cool history to boot. The 140-acre farm will henceforth use a system of farming that produces high quality food, sequesters carbon, and enhances biodiversity.
Dickerson Trash Incinerator Update March 16, 2021
SCA continues to engage with local lawmakers on the county’s plans for solid waste management over the next decade, and particularly on the fate of the Dickerson trash incinerator.
Reason: the incinerator is slated for shut down in 2026 and the Dickerson site is often mentioned as a possible site for food composting and/or other solid waste management initiatives before or after the incinerator is shuttered.
Lauren Greenberger, SCA’s president, testified today (March 16) at a county council hearing on “The Comprehensive Ten-Year Solid Waste Management Plan 2020-2029.” Her testimony can be found here.
As part of that testimony, Lauren presented the findings from a comprehensive study that SCA commissioned: Beyond Incineration: Best Waste Management Strategies for Montgomery County, Maryland. Here’s a link to that report.
And here’s a link to the council’s page on the hearing and the draft version (before formal adoption) of the waste management plan. (Warning, this is a large file.)
SCA’s testimony commended county government for working to dramatically expand recycling and composting, and shift to a “pay-as-you-throw” strategy throughout the county. But Lauren told the council that SCA and other local environmental and civic groups remain concerned that the county’s plan does not adequately address the way the county disposes of the trash that can not be recycled.
The county’s 10-year plan assumes that the Dickerson will incinerator will continue to operate over the next 5 years, Lauren testified. The better alternative—based on the findings from the SCA study—is to close the incinerator within the next year and haul all non-recyclable trash to a well-managed landfill out of state. The study found that taking that alternative path would result in far less greenhouse gas emissions and eliminate all the toxic emissions the incinerator now emits, which are considerable.
“This solution is a win for county residents and the council,” Lauren testified. “We get an immediate concrete reduction in greenhouse gases, a dramatic reduction in overall pollution, and we stop harming a majority black community in Virginia [where the tons of toxic ash from the incinerator is now taken.]”
Lauren told the council that SCA would be open to discussion with the county about expanding the Dickerson Yard Trim Composting facility to include residential food scraps under closed cover—as is now being done successfully in PG County.
You can read the details, both environmental and financial, in Lauren’s testimony.
A Win-Win for the Ag Reserve and Addressing Climate Change
Feb. 24, 2021
After a year-long debate, the Montgomery County Council on Tuesday Feb. 23 passed a compromise bill that will allow ground-based solar arrays to be placed on up to 1,800 acres of non-arable land in the Ag Reserve.
The final measure—a zoning change—protects prime soils, forests, and environmentally sensitive areas. And it preserves the primacy of agriculture in the Ag Reserve.
In a 7 to 2 vote, the council voted to allow solar projects only on land not ideal for growing crops and only after county agriculture regulators review proposals. Community input will be sought. And each project will require co-location with some form of agricultural production: crops, animal crazing, or pollinator-friendly habitats, for example.
Opponents of the final bill claimed that not be enough land would be available for solar arrays if all arable land was protected. But county agriculture officials identified 4,500 acres (450 parcels of 5 to 15 acres) meeting the criteria for potential solar development.
The final bill also paves the way for every homeowner, business and farm in the Ag Reserve to install rooftop and barn-top solar panels that will provide 100% of their energy needs as well as an additional 100% above those needs that can be sold back to the energy grid.
Many, many thanks to SCA members and Ag Reserve residents who wrote letters, emailed, called or otherwise weighed in on this legislation as it wended its way through the process. County council members heard your voice! We would not have achieved the outcome we did without your participation, and the advocacy of our partners at Montgomery Countryside Alliance and other groups.
Notably, this debate has deepened understanding and appreciation of the Ag Reserve—among council members and MoCo residents. That’s a huge plus as we continue SCA’s work to preserve and protect the reserve and expand its role addressing the serious threats posed by climate change.
A Regenerative Renaissance at Linden Farm By Ellen Gordon
Living through a time and place drastically transformed by pandemic and strife over racial injustice can be the opportunity we need to reflect on how we can better know the world. If we are successful, then perhaps we can emerge with a philosophy that is healing for the world—and healthier for us.
While it’s true that there are many ways of farming that can produce food, the change that Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association (SCA) is bringing to the farm that we steward will yield healthier food, nourish the soil, begin mending the ecosystem and help to ameliorate climate change.
Linden Farm, SCA’s headquarters, has been farmed for at least 200 years--and perhaps much longer. It was almost certainly used for growing tobacco for much of its early history—a crop that aggressively depletes soil. Originally part of a larger tract, it became the Lawrence Wright Farm in the 1880s, by which time it had transitioned to grain production, as well as raising livestock.
The opening of the Dickerson railroad station in 1873 increased the economic feasibility of grain and beef production by insuring a fast system for transporting goods to market. The farm changed hands a couple of times, and finally, during the Depression era, was purchased by Walter Matthews, who diversified production by expanding into dairying, delivering milk by truck as far as Washington, DC. The Matthews family also converted part of the farm into a private commons, known as Linden Park, complete with a bandstand. Family members were active in the Poolesville Band and large groups often gathered in the park for picnics and musical celebrations.
In 1980, Montgomery County bought the farm, with the intention of using a portion of it for composting sewage sludge. Because of SCA’s labors, that aspect of the farm’s history was short-lived, and by 1986, that same portion was instead converted to a less noxious leaf and grass composting facility. The association has continued oversight of that use and our efforts culminated in our gaining stewardship in 1996 of the farm’s remaining 150 acres. Now dubbed Linden Farm, the fields were leased to local farmers for conventional grain production, in traditional wheat, corn, soybean rotation.
Sugarloaf Citizens’ Association was founded in 1973 to promote and advocate for sound environmental stewardship in the rural north of Montgomery County, an area that wasn’t designated as an Agricultural Reserve until 1980. For nearly a half century, SCA volunteers have been a powerful force for preventing the destruction of farmland and open space, and thwarting increased water and air pollution. Now, as we plan for the next fifty years, we will be actively promoting a vibrant and healthy vision for Linden Farm where food is grown following regenerative principles, one where the greater community will be invited to learn how it’s done.
Regenerative, generally speaking, refers to the use of a resource where it is increased and/or enhanced for future use, as compared to unsustainable or sustainable. Regenerative agriculture comprises a system of holistic land management practices that leverage the power of photosynthesis by plants to help reverse climate change. How? By building soil organic matter, avoiding costly synthetic inputs, keeping living roots in the ground, maintaining plant species diversity, and integrating livestock, thereby enhancing carbon drawdown and vastly improving the water cycle. Added benefits include more nutritious food, improved wildlife habitat, more humane animal husbandry, and expansion of pollinator sources. This naturally enhances the farmer’s bottom line by decreasing the costs of inputs, which increases net profit.
You can read the rest of this article on Plenty magazine’s website: https://view.joomag.com/plenty-summer-2020/0415936001594252066?short&
Ellen Gordon is an SCA board member.
Trash Incineration vs. Landfills
As SCA’s campaign to close the Dickerson trash incinerator has progressed, many of you have asked where the trash—tons of it—will go if the campaign is ultimately successful.
Good question. It turns out there are a lot of myths about this, notably around the merits of landfills versus trash burning.
Isn’t incineration safer and cleaner than landfills?
No! SCA recently hired a nationally recognized expert – Jeffrey Morris of the Sound Resource Management Group in Olympia, Washington) – to do an analysis of Montgomery County’s waste disposal system. He presented his findings to county officials in June. (You can find his powerpoint here. Warning: it’s highly technical.)
His main finding: When toxic emissions harmful to human health and greenhouse gases adding to climate change are measured using the same standards, landfills prove to be safer and cleaner than incinerators.
If no gas is captured from a landfill then the greenhouse gases it produces are, in fact, slightly greater than what an incinerator produces. But all modern landfills capture between 75% and 90% of their emissions. This makes incineration more dangerous to the environment and human health, and in terms of climate change.
In addition, landfills don’t produce any of the toxins that studies have linked to respiratory illness and cancer. (There’s no conclusive proof, however, that the Dickerson incinerator has led to excess cases of cancer in the Ag Reserve or Montgomery County.)
The company that operates the incinerator (Covanta) claims it is operating well within the emissions limits set by the EPA.
This is only partly true. On a daily basis Covanta measures four types of emissions. Those do fall within the EPA limits. Once a year they measure things like dioxins, furans and mercury—the really bad emissions. They do not measure such emissions when they are starting up or shutting down, however—and it turns out those are periods when emissions are much greater than at other times.
In other words, Covanta can, under the rules, choose an optimal time to take their once a year measurement.
Even when they do this, however, EPA reports show that the Dickerson incinerator emits an average 24 pounds of mercury per year. The mercury in just one thermometer can contaminate an entire lake. What is 24 pounds of mercury doing to our health and that of our children and the animals in our area? We don’t know.
Also, just because the toxic emissions fall within the EPA standards doesn’t make them safe. This is just the level that EPA chose to allow, and by all accounts after significant lobbying from the incinerator industry.
If we close the incinerator what happens to our trash?
The county is in the process of developing a “zero waste” trash management plan. SCA is very involved in that process. Our president, Lauren Greenberger, serves on the County’s zero waste task force. A draft plan is due from the task force this fall.
The task force is studying the entire waste management picture in Montgomery County. But two aspects of the county’s waste challenge warrant mention. One is food scraps and the other is recycling.
Thirty-five percent of the county’s trash is food scraps. We need to get it out of the waste stream! The emerging idea is to target commercial sources of food waste first—from restaurants and grocery stores, for example. The county is close to contracting this out on a pilot basis, with Prince George’s County‘s food composting facility.
The next step will likely be to conduct a pilot residential food compost collection program. Such initiatives are now popping up around the country.
SCA has informed the county that if they will close the incinerator we would consider taking composted food at the Dickerson facility, which cuurently processes all the county’s yard waste. (Because of court battle with the county many years ago over the incinerator, SCA has the legal authority to accept or reject any plan to expand composting beyond yard waste.)
As for recyclable materials, here, too, the county needs to remove a much larger quantity from the waste stream than it does now.
One idea being considered is unit pricing. Much the same way that we pay for our electricity and water, we could pay only for the amount of trash we put at the curb—instead of the current one-size-fits-all fee. Recycled materials put at the curb would be collected free of charge.
The town of New Windsor, MD has recently conducted a pilot program using this system. In the first few months of the program, the town reduced its trash volume by 40%.
When people pay attention to what’s going into their trash and have a financial incentive to reduce the quantity, all signs indicate that the results are positive. Less waste needs to be burned and/or dumped.
The task force is also considering a high-profile educational campaign to increase awareness of the benefits of composting and recycling.
What about the waste that we can’t recycle, re-purpose or use?
We support shipping any leftover trash by railroad to safe and stable landfills that are not near where anybody lives. SCA commissioned a second consultant to evaluate the feasibility of this option for Montgomery County. His report shows that this is likely to be economically and environmentally preferable to incinerating.
As a result of this work, we have interested the largest rail hauler of municipal solid waste in the country in presenting Montgomery County with a contract proposal.
We believe this approach would be far preferable to the status quo. The Dickerson incinerator produces about 200,000 tons of ash each year. This material contains all the residual toxins from the incinerator that were not released into our air. The ash is shipped to a landfill near a large community of color in Virginia. SCA has been pushing the county for years to stop sending this toxic material to this densely populated area.
Bottom line: If our county’s leftover waste—after food and recyclables are sharply reduced—were simply landfilled as far away from people as possible, rather than being burned and then landfilled as toxic ash, it would be significantly safer for human beings and better for the environment.
Please let us know what you think about this issue.
Sugarloaf Citizens Association, Inc. Linden Farm 20900 Martinsburg Road P.O. Box 218 Dickerson, MD 20842 301-349-4889 info@sugarloafcitizens.org
