Protecting the Sugarloaf Mountain Area The Frederick County Council last fall passed a once-in-a-generation land-use plan for the Sugarloaf Mountain area. But, amid contentious debate, the Council in late December rejected the zoning regulations that would implement and enforce the plan. Those regulations are now being considered anew by Frederick County’s Planning Commission. SCA continues to support protecting this rural, farming, and recreation area from commercial and dense housing development. The area in question encompasses almost 20,000 acres in the Southern part of Frederick County, much of it bordering Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve. It includes Sugarloaf Mountain (3,400 acres), a privately held park and recreation area open to the public. It also includes most of the land to the east of the Mountain to the Monocacy National Battlefield and I-270. The overall aim of the 176-page Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Plan is to preserve and conserve natural habitat, forests, and farms, and to prevent high-impact commercial and high-density residential development. Paired with the plan—for simultaneous legislative consideration—was a zoning “overlay.” This was necessary because the plan itself, while laying out a zoning scheme, was not itself a zoning ordinance. The Council’s failure to pass the zoning overlay is attributable to various forces. The most important were opposition to it from: (a) Stronghold, Inc., the owner of Sugarloaf Mountain, and (b) a coalition of developers led by Tom Natelli, whose company developed much of the housing and commercial areas in and around Urbana. Stronghold last year threatened to close the mountain to the public if the overlay zoning passed without exempting its property. The Frederick County Council’s failure to pass the overlay means that existing zoning regulations in the area stay in place. Fortunately, most of the area in question is already zoned for agriculture or “rural conservation.” This existing zoning will provide a good deal of protection against the most egregious kind of development. But it leaves important gaps that the “Rural Heritage Overlay Zone” would have addressed. In voting down the overlay zoning ordinance, the Council remanded it back to the county’s Planning Commission for reconsideration. That process has begun. The commission held a discussion session on January 18 with multiple stakeholders. SCA board members participated. The process has no set timeline, but commission members made clear that they didn’t want the process to last through 2023. Also clear from the January 18 session is that there’s no easy compromise to be had between supporters and opponents of the overlay zone as last proposed in late 2022. The ball is now in the planning commission’s court. The commission has pledged an open and transparent process. SCA will continue to advocate for updated conservation zoning of the entire area encompassed by the Sugarloaf Plan. We also firmly reject: (a) Stronghold Inc.’s ongoing argument that its land should be exempted in whole from any change in zoning, and (b) Mr. Natelli’s ongoing position that property he owns—as well as some 2,000 additional acres—on the west side of I-270--should be exempted from zoning that would sweepingly prevent commercial development. On January 27, The Frederick News-Post reported that the county, in secret talks with Amazon Web Services in early 2022, had tacitly agreed to carve-out areas along I-270, included in the Sugarloaf Plan, for a data center. These centers are large facilities that house thousands of computer servers to maintain vast amounts of data. SCA believes that no high-density development should occur west of I-270— preserving the existing boundary that now includes the Monocacy Battlefield, in the Sugarloaf Plan area. That area should be kept in farming or as open space and designated for conservation where appropriate. The Frederick Planning Commission agreed with that approach in 2022, and explicitly rejected any carve out deals with developers. But the Council (of elected officials) could not reach agreement or compromise on that point nor the overall overlay zone.
Protecting the Sugarloaf Mountain Area
The Frederick County Council last fall passed a once-in-a-generation land-use plan for the Sugarloaf Mountain area. But, amid contentious debate, the Council in late December rejected the zoning regulations that would implement and enforce the plan. Those regulations are now being considered anew by Frederick County’s Planning Commission.
SCA continues to support protecting this rural, farming, and recreation area from commercial and dense housing development. The area in question encompasses almost 20,000 acres in the Southern part of Frederick County, much of it bordering Montgomery County’s Ag Reserve. It includes Sugarloaf Mountain (3,400 acres), a privately held park and recreation area open to the public. It also includes most of the land to the east of the Mountain to the Monocacy National Battlefield and I-270.
The overall aim of the 176-page Sugarloaf Treasured Landscape Management Plan is to preserve and conserve natural habitat, forests, and farms, and to prevent high-impact commercial and high-density residential development.
Paired with the plan—for simultaneous legislative consideration—was a zoning “overlay.” This was necessary because the plan itself, while laying out a zoning scheme, was not itself a zoning ordinance.
The Council’s failure to pass the zoning overlay is attributable to various forces. The most important were opposition to it from: (a) Stronghold, Inc., the owner of Sugarloaf Mountain, and (b) a coalition of developers led by Tom Natelli, whose company developed much of the housing and commercial areas in and around Urbana.
Stronghold last year threatened to close the mountain to the public if the overlay zoning passed without exempting its property.
The Frederick County Council’s failure to pass the overlay means that existing zoning regulations in the area stay in place. Fortunately, most of the area in question is already zoned for agriculture or “rural conservation.” This existing zoning will provide a good deal of protection against the most egregious kind of development. But it leaves important gaps that the “Rural Heritage Overlay Zone” would have addressed.
In voting down the overlay zoning ordinance, the Council remanded it back to the county’s Planning Commission for reconsideration. That process has begun. The commission held a discussion session on January 18 with multiple stakeholders. SCA board members participated. The process has no set timeline, but commission members made clear that they didn’t want the process to last through 2023. Also clear from the January 18 session is that there’s no easy compromise to be had between supporters and opponents of the overlay zone as last proposed in late 2022.
The ball is now in the planning commission’s court. The commission has pledged an open and transparent process. SCA will continue to advocate for updated conservation zoning of the entire area encompassed by the Sugarloaf Plan. We also firmly reject: (a) Stronghold Inc.’s ongoing argument that its land should be exempted in whole from any change in zoning, and (b) Mr. Natelli’s ongoing position that property he owns—as well as some 2,000 additional acres—on the west side of I-270--should be exempted from zoning that would sweepingly prevent commercial development.
On January 27, The Frederick News-Post reported that the county, in secret talks with Amazon Web Services in early 2022, had tacitly agreed to carve-out areas along I-270, included in the Sugarloaf Plan, for a data center. These centers are large facilities that house thousands of computer servers to maintain vast amounts of data.
Sugarloaf Citizens Association, Inc. Linden Farm 20900 Martinsburg Road P.O. Box 218 Dickerson, MD 20842 301-349-4889 info@sugarloafcitizens.org
