More News

The county Planning Board unanimously approved a two-home subdivision in the county's 93,000-acre Agricultural Reserve that would utilize controversial sand mound septic systems.

The proposal to build two single-family homes on 73 acres used for horse pasture on Montevideo Road in Poolesville is consistent with the spirit of the Ag Reserve, which restricts development to preserve farming, Chairman Royce Hanson said at the board's Nov. 19 meeting. The proposed homes would be built on a 3.6-acre lot and a 46.5-acre lot and will eventually be occupied by children of the Guerrero family, which bought the property in 1987, according to Planning Board documents. The larger lot will continue to be farmed.

The adjacent property owners have agreed to buy the remaining 21.7 acres for use as pasture, leaving 65 acres available for agriculture, according to the documents.

The board voted 3-0 to approve the Potomac Estates subdivision. Commissioner Joe Alfandre was absent. Commissioner Jean Cryor died last month and a new commissioner has not been appointed.

The Ad Hoc Agricultural Policy Working Group appointed by the County Council decided in 2007 that the use of sand mounds should be limited in the Ag Reserve but differed on when they should be allowed. The Planning Board recommended that the Council prohibit sand mounds except for certain situations. The Council has not yet ruled on the issue, creating what staff described as a "policy vacuum."

The larger lot, a grandfathered parcel predating the Ag Reserve, which was established in 1980, would be exempted under the board's standards because it would replace an existing septic system that served a house that has since been demolished, according to the documents. The smaller lot partially meets the board's standards because the proposed house would be located to preserve agriculture.

The subdivision is consistent with the majority opinion of the working group allowing one sand mound per 25 acres for the first 75 acres but not the minority opinion, which would permit one sand mound for every 50 acres.

The Planning Board has approved 168 residential subdivisions containing 664 lots in the Ag Reserve since it was created in 1980, according to the documents. Thirty-two of those lots, all approved between 1997 and 2005, relied on sand mounds.