The Worcester County Commissioners should as a body at least discuss in public a proposal to donate 10 acres of land on Route 611 to a non-profit entity focused on conservation.
The commissioners should be the deciding body on what gets discussed before them. Since staff does not support the land donation concept in exchange for a transfer of EDUs, the commissioners have not had a public discussion about the proposal at the direction of the commission president, who sets the agenda.
Developer and philanthropist Jack Burbage wants to donate 10 acres of commercially-zoned land at the intersection of Route 611 and Airport Road (north of the airport) to the Lower Shore Land Trust (LSLT). Of course, there’s a rub and something in this deal for Burbage as well. In exchange for donating the 10 acres, he wants to assign 11 of the 12 EDUs for the land in question to a neighboring commercial parcel he wants to develop. This transfer has been denied by county staff because a seven-year period outlined in a 2004 accord authorizing sewer capacity transfer in the service area has lapsed.
Burbage’s attorney, Hugh Cropper, has asked county staff to allow an exception in this case because of the non-profit nature of the donation, but staff has not been willing to budge. This is clearly a reasonable transfer request and one that does not require such a challenge from the county. At the very least, the commissioners should be weigh in on this denial.
If the property donation on Route 611 were permitted, it’s unknown exactly what the property would be used for in the future, although Cropper suggested it could potentially be a runway protection zone for the adjacent airport. LSLT Executive Director Kate Patton said any future use has not been decided, but admitted it would surely not be a high-use commercial venture, which would be allowed today on the site should Burbage choose to develop it.
“Regardless of what we’d do with it you’re minimizing any impact on it,” she said. “It’s also adding to our ability to do the land conservation that we do.”
There needs to be a way to make this project work. Route 611 will at some point be entirely developed from Route 50 to Assateague Island. Any land that’s permitted and zoned for development will be built on in some fashion. Carving out this parcel for conservation through a generous donation with a modest transfer request of EDUs makes sense. It certainly, at a minimum, deserves input from the county’s elected officials.
