A county-run rural conservation program that was set up two years ago but stalled because of funding complications has finally gotten off the ground.
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The county used its Purchase of Development Rights program, which pays rural landowners a lump sum not to build on their land or sell it to developers, to conserve its first two properties last week. The program will soon be used to conserve a third, with the three properties totaling 600 protected acres.
‘‘We finally broke the ice,” said Yates Clagett, who manages the program through the Prince George’s County Soil Conservation District. ‘‘Now that we’ve got the first couple farms in, I want to start promoting this again and reinvigorating the program.”
The PDR program was established in 2006 and garnered immediate interest from landowners and farmers in the county’s rural areas, Clagett said.
But the program could not move forward because it was to be funded by the Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission, and the M-NCPPC did not have the authority to spend money outside the metropolitan area.
A law passed in the Maryland General Assembly this year gave the M-NCPPC that authority, Clagett said. Through dedicated funding that has built up over the last few years, the program now has nearly $20 million to work with.
Dennis Moore, one of the first landowners to sell his development rights under the program, said it started functioning at just the right time.
‘‘Without the PDR, we would have sold off some pieces of our land,” said Moore, who owns 128 acres in Upper Marlboro. He also owns a mile-long strip of property along the Patuxent River.
Clagett said that an owner of 126 acres in Baden had been considering the PDR program, but instead sold to a developer while the program was in limbo.
Moore said he and his wife had been considering selling lots — which would have meant more houses springing up in the area — because their property taxes have gone up.
‘‘We wanted to preserve it,” he said. ‘‘We didn’t want to build on it. But it got more costly to keep the property because it’s so large.”
Clagett said the county is spending a little less than $5 million to secure easement rights on Moore’s property and the two others, which are both in Aquasco. Landowners are paid different amounts per acre, and out of privacy concerns Clagett declined to say how much each landowner received.
About 30 other landowners since 2006 have expressed interest in joining the PDR program.
The program allows owners to continue using their land for agriculture but prohibits them from selling or developing it, with some exceptions made for family transactions. Once money changes hands, there is no opt-out, Clagett said.
The program is designed to pay landowners up to 85 percent of the market value for their land, a rate that varies depending on the land’s characteristics. For example, tracts are highly prized if they are large and adjacent to land that is already protected, Clagett said.
Land must be in the rural tier to be eligible for a PDR. It must be at least 50 acres but can be 35 acres if it is adjacent to previously protected land.
‘‘The county gets the best bang for their buck if they preserve the large, contiguous parcels because you preserve more land quickly,” Clagett said.
Clagett said that by paying landowners for their development rights, the county saves tax dollars in the long run because it will not have to spend millions upgrading infrastructure for new housing developments.
Charlie Richardson, who lives in La Plata and owns 312 acres of farmland in Aquasco that will soon enter the program, said it is a ‘‘win-win situation” for farmers and the county.
While the county can protect open spaces and control growth in rural areas, he said, ‘‘you as a landowner can get some of the equity from your land without having to sell it or put any houses on it.”
