If you’ve ever dreamed of having an overnight stay on one of the farms in Montgomery County’s agricultural reserve, you may actually be interested in this proposed zoning text amendment.
The Montgomery County Council has introduced a zoning text amendment that could allow farms in the upcounty to add up to 10 “accessory structures” on their properties for overnight stays. But if you’re thinking farms would suddenly sprout a bumper crop of yurts, forget it, said Marc Potash, the owner of a 300-acre property in Beallsville.
Yurts, even on the high end, he said, are “limited seasonally” and there are a “limited amount of people who really want to stay in a yurt.”
Instead, Potash told WTOP in an interview, “Imagine going to the Ritz-Carlton or the Four Seasons” where each unit would be “like a small cabin,” but cushier. “Like any high-end hotel” but “not over the top.”
Potash is a tech executive who’s become involved in rye production and is in the process of establishing a distillery on the property he calls Sugarloaf Farm. He proposed the zoning change, explaining that it would allow farmers to have “an additional revenue source, and then you could also combine it with education too.”
What the new rule could mean for local farmers
According to county documents, under the zoning text amendment, overnight stays would be permitted as part of the activities related to agricultural tourism like hay rides, corn mazes, educational tours and workshops.
There would be restrictions, though: no cooking facilities would be allowed in the units, the maximum number of adults allowed in each unit would be two and the overnight stays would be limited to four days per week.
The county’s 93,000-acre agricultural reserve was established in 1980 to limit suburban sprawl and preserve the county’s valuable farmland. Residential development is limited to no more than one dwelling per 25 acres.
Caroline Taylor, executive director of the Montgomery Countryside Alliance which advocates for land use to “enhance agriculture and land preservation,” said her organization was surprised by the introduction of the proposal, but added, “We have interest in advancing the opportunity for overnight stays in the reserve — but carefully.”
When asked to explain, she said the agricultural properties in the reserve “are outside the water/sewer envelope, meaning we’re on well and septic systems.” So, she said, the attraction of adding new revenue opportunities for farmers should also take into account “the environmental carrying capacity” for the area.
Along with concern for the issues surrounding water and sewer capacity, Taylor told WTOP, “We wouldn’t want to lose forests for these facilities” either.
Taylor also said there are “details and questions that need to be teased out, and we hope that there will be broader stakeholder engagement to do that” as the council moves forward with its consideration.
Potash, who explained farming and opening up properties for educational and recreational stays is “a passion project” for him, said he understands the concerns. He said his vision includes an environmentally friendly approach to comfortable farm stays, making use of solar power and composting toilets.
More than just a camping trip
Taylor said another concern is the possible impact on land values in the agricultural reserve. When commercial operations that are not tied to agriculture are introduced into the ag reserve, said Taylor, “agricultural land suddenly becomes more valuable for those commercial uses as opposed to pure farming.”
Potash said land values are already high in the county’s reserve. “Right now, it’s selling at $20,000 an acre, and we haven’t built anything yet,” said Potash.
When asked who he sees enjoying farm stays like the kind he imagines, Potash said, “Maybe a Potomac person who wants to go out to the country for the night.”
And while he said he’d like to have activities including archery and fishing, he hopes to educate visitors and “have people experience the things that you get to experience as a local farmer and as a local producer” in a way that they get to “enjoy that experience as much as you do.”
Montgomery County Council member Natali Fani-Gonzalez sponsored the bill, and it’s co-sponsored by Council members Evan Glass and Andrew Friedson. A hearing on the zoning text amendment has been scheduled for January.
