Updated April 6, 2024

An outpouring of concern and outright opposition ensued. At a December 6, 2023 public forum on the proposal—sponsored by SCA and Montgomery Countryside Alliance (MCA)—the majority of some 75 attendees questioned the rationale, scope, and potential impact of the measure. The general sentiment was that the proposal would undermine farming and the basic tenets of the Ag Reserve—which seek to preserve and foster farming and prevent commercial and non-farm related development on arable farmland. It could also lead to a land grab by developers, and increases in land costs that would price farmers out of the market, many residents said.

The majority of about 60 people testifying at a January 16 public hearing on the proposal—sponsored by the County Council—voiced similar objections. On major one: Ms. Gonzalez had not consulted with her colleagues on the Council who represent the Ag Reserve (Marilyn Balcombe and Dawn Luedtke) nor had she spoken with key Ag Reserve stakeholders including farm groups, farmers and landowners.

Updated January 6, 2024

On December 19, 2023, the Frederick County Council voted down a once-in-a-generation proposal to strengthen conservation and agricultural zoning on 19,700 acres in the southern part of the county.

The area in question in Frederick County is contiguous with Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve.  It encompasses 3,400-acre Sugarloaf Mountain and an additional 16,300 acres to the east of the mountain all the way to I-270.  

The vote came after a three-year process, which saw the Frederick County Council approve a comprehensive land-use plan—the Sugarloaf Mountain Treasured Landscape Management Plan—for the area in the fall of 2022.  The Council struggled, however, to come to political consensus and agreement in 2022 and again in 2023 on an accompanying zoning ordinance—called an “overlay”—that would implement and enforce the plan’s land-use guidance. 

That struggle occurred despite urging by Frederick County’s own planning commission and the Maryland’s Department of the Environment to approve the overlay. 

In a nutshell, the debate pitted environmental and civic groups (including SCA) against developers, real estate interests, and business groups. The latter prevailed in a county long bent on loosely regulated growth.      

The practical upshot is that the area’s existing zoning stays in place, with no updated conservation protections for natural resources, streams, trees or natural habitat— amid the known and unknown threats posed by climate change.    

Importantly, that existing zoning largely prevents commercial and dense housing development without explicit permission from Frederick County authorities.  But the failure of the Frederick County Council to enact the overlay opens up a path for developers and landowners to apply for zoning exemptions on a case-by-case basis.

Updated Nov 3, 2023

A large-scale data center project now underway in Montgomery and Frederick Counties has hit some roadblocks.

The project involves: (a) a 2,100-acre data center “campus” located near Adamstown, and (b) 43 miles of underground fiber optic cables crossing beneath the Potomac River in two locations and the Monocacy River in one location.

The Monocacy River location is at the border of Dickerson and Frederick County in an area off Mouth of Monocacy Road. Near Adamstown, Md., the 2,100 acres is at the former site of the Eastalco aluminum smelting plant.

The underground and under-river cables (called the Q-Loop) will connect the new campus with the fast-growing data center industry in Virginia (collectively called the “Ashburn Internet ecosystem,” one of the largest such systems in the world).