Efforts to protect agricultural vendors in residential zones may unintentionally preclude some from operating, members of the Montgomery County Planning Board said at a recent hearing.

Debate centered on a proposed zoning text amendment championed by County Councilman Roger Berliner (D-Dist. 1) of Potomac, that went before the Planning Board Thursday. A public hearing on the issue before the Montgomery County Council was expected Tuesday, too late for The Gazette's deadline.

The proposed legislation follows a complaint against Twin Springs Fruit Farm, which operates weekly during produce season in the parking lot of the Concord Saint Andrews United Methodist Church in Bethesda. County zoning regulations don't allow commercial operations in residential zones, according to Susan Scala-Demby, the county's zoning manager. After the September complaint, the popular farm stand was threatened with closure, and residents rallied to save it.

Berliner's office drafted proposed legislation aimed to protect the stand and similar operations, but the proposed amendment included stipulations geared to protect nearby homeowners. According to the proposed amendment, those stipulations included that the vendors be located on a lot larger than four acres that's also used for a non-residential purpose, such as a church. It also requires that the lot abut a four-lane highway.

"This really is couched to residential zones where a lot of these are being located along the perimeter of neighborhoods, and they wanted to make sure they don't encroach into the neighborhoods," said Montgomery County Planning Board zoning coordinator Greg Russ at Thursday's hearing.

Planning Board members were careful to articulate their support of making agricultural vendors more accessible to residents, but they raised concerns that the four-acre lot stipulation may negatively affect farm stands operating on smaller lots.

The board agreed to send a letter to the Council, indicating that the proposed amendment "seems not sufficiently thought out in terms of potential unintended consequences," said Planning Board Chairman Royce Hanson.

The legislation is scheduled to go before the Council's Planning, Housing and Economic Development committee Jan. 21, though no date has yet been set for the full council to vote.

Three people were signed up to testify at the Council hearing on Tuesday. Berliner said he expected those three to testify in favor of the proposed zoning text amendment.

Berliner said he was confident the legislation would pass, but that he was willing to work with planning staff on its language.

"We did want to make sure it was situated on a lot sufficiently large enough that it could accommodate a farm stand and that it could be sufficiently removed from the neighbors," Berliner said.