Time to Escalate to Governor Wes Moore

***Unfortunate Update on Battle with the County. 

The Charles County Commissioners’ meeting yesterday included a briefing by Planning and Growth Management, Economic Development, and Wes Adams. I think that briefing is important to watch and dissect. They begin the agritourism discussion at about the 3 hour, 8 minute mark. It was the last agenda item for the day. 

Here’s my take on the briefing knowing they were referencing my application because I’m the first and only applicant:

PGM and Wes Adams plan to discredit everything I’ve done to establash a bona fide agricultural operation. They are proposing to the Commissioners to change the bill (ZTA 20-156). They want to change the definition of ag operations to exclude small scale farms, farmsteads, and people like me. They want to create a new term “agricultural activities” to account for small farms. This means people who may have small crops, or large garden, backyard chickens, animal husbandry, etc would not be viewed as a bona fide agricultural operation thereby making those type of ag businesses ineligible to participate in agritourism. Systemic oppression at its best. They say Purdue is an example of a real ag operation, not someone with “backyard chickens.”

They also want to set parameters for parcel size. They need to keep in mind innovative farming doesn’t require a lot of land. Things can be grown using vertical space and indoors. They are stuck in a time warp and think these older farms are the experts and they are not. The farming industry needs fresh blood, not a continuation of a good ole boys network and antiquated business models of agriculture. 

They want to make sure the ag operation by itself exists for a certain amount of time before the farm would be eligible for ag tourism. But this defeats the purpose of the Task Force who stated they wanted this legislation to help small farms, hobby farms, farmsteads, family farms, historically underserved farmers lower barriers to entry. Over 90% of USDA farms are considered small farms. Why would PGM back track and change things to be even more limiting. That was not the intent of the bill. 

They want to create a definition for “agricultural product.” They are using my project to come up with the new legislation and I guarantee by the time they are done, they would have made my project ineligible for agritourism AFTER I’ve presented my application and it was in line with the bill. 

They want to get feedback from longterm farmers (they call subject matter experts) to come up with suggestions for the revisions (aka continue the good ole boys network). A lot of new age farmers are not interested in doing farming the old school way. Their old way of doing things and advice are not compatible with what the innovation disadvantaged farmers are proposing. We don’t desire to get mentorship from those that are stuck in a time warp. Farming is a dying industry that is aging out because the people who’ve always had the land and power do not want other groups having their fair share and introduce new ways of farming. 

What PGM and Adams are proposing is very discriminatory toward disadvantaged populations. For example, less than .52% of farmland is owned by Blacks. Less than 2% of farmers are Black. So how could people like me be properly represented if they exclude small and new farms doing an innovative ag-business from enjoying the benefits of agritourism. The new rules will be designed to raise barriers, not lower them. The intent of the bill was to help existing and new farmers that want to do ag business in Charles county. 

They totally disregarded the spirit and intent of the bill and my application gave them something to pick apart and defeat. 

Wes Adams talked in circles and made incorrect statements. When questioned about what a farmstay is, Adams outright lied. He said the code defines a farmstay as “camping.” There is absolutely no definition for farmstay in any ordinance in Charles county. He totally made that up on the spot and the commissioners and general public have no clue because they are conditioned to believe whatever Adams says is correct and that their Directors are fair and competent on all matters. None of the three Directors that did the briefing were participants on the Rural Task Force yet they are being looked at as “experts” simply because of their position, not their knowledge.

Adams also said there are zoning codes for Airbnb but Carpenter then said, the county doesn’t regulate Airbnbs. Another inconsistency in the meeting. 

The NAACP attorney watched this meeting and she is not happy. She sees what they are doing is a serious cause for concern because they are undermining the bill. NAACP believes I am being discriminated against based on the facts I presented them. They are doing a press release and going to start highlighting all of the farms that are doing agritourism now without a permit. I am the first and only applicant so no others have come in to be approved yet they are running their operations without neighbor complaints or PGM giving them a hard time. 

They created a bill designed to achieve several objectives. Seems the bill was created to help those specific farmers at that time and now they see someone like me has found and leveraged the bill. They want to kill my project and make sure people like me won’t be able to benefit. 

How does the county get away with this type of approach and unscrupulous tactics. This small community knows exactly what is being done to me to run me and my family away. And everyone knows it is all about my neighbors (most of whom are related to the man who used to own all of this land around here). The neighbors have used their close ties to county government and even local land use attorneys. One well-respected local land use attorney believes my application is not being handled correctly but said she cannot represent me because her husband is related to one of opposing neighbors.

What a sad day when you have an excelldnt attorney admit there are some issues but due to the community being so close knit, nobody wants to take a stand and help me battle this clear injustice.

I’m not going down without a fight. This is wrong and they are obviously focusing on changing the legislation so that my project would never get approved. Soon, they’ll be telling me I do not meet the definition of an ag operation. 

If you have a chance, you may want to watch the recording. I know in my heart what they are doing is wrong and can’t find anyone local who is not tied in to the opposition. 

http://charlescountymd.cablecast.tv/CablecastPublicSite/show/618?site=1

Let’s make sure Governor Wes Moore is aware of what’s happening down here in rural Charles County.