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DENTON – At their weekly meeting Tuesday, Oct. 21, 2025, the Caroline County Commissioners enacted a key piece of agricultural land preservation legislation, approved a semiquincentennial monument on the courthouse green and authorized a dredging proposal. Safety concerns at Dayspring Townhomes were addressed as the county finalizes a contract to sell the complex.
Ag preservation bill enacted
Following the fourth reading of Legislative Bill 2025-011, the Commissioners enacted a new Agricultural Land Preservation Fund.
“This bill has gone through a number of amendments since we first introduced it back on September 23,” County Attorney Stewart Barroll said. “There was a second reading and a public hearing on Oct. 7. Last Tuesday the 14th, there was a third reading with the potential to enact or amend, and we decided to go through some additional amendments to the bill. So we are here for a fourth reading of it.”
The bill:
The purpose of the legislation is accomplished by enactment of a new Chapter 75, Agricultural Land Preservation Fund for Caroline County and Compensatory Preservation Contributions, of the Code of Public Laws of Caroline County.
The Department of Planning and Codes will determine the compensatory amount at final site plan approval, “and (solar project developers) would be responsible for paying it before a building permit would be issued,” said County Planning and Codes Director Crystal Dadds.
“When we first discussed making this change to the code, we started putting that information on the website, and it is also on all of our email communications with any solar projects, … that this would be forthcoming,” Dadds said. “We have told everyone that this would be retroactive for any projects that have not received their final site plan approval.”
If a project area has soils that are classified Class I or II, the new regulation would be imposed for the entire project; however, projects within town limits are not affected by the new law.
Dadds said MALPF set $7,500 as the fair market value per acre for fiscal year 2024. The county would collect about 75%, or around $5,600 per acre.
Based on his quick calculation of the 600 acres currently in the solar project pipeline, Commission Vice President Larry Porter said, “We’re looking at a little over $3 million.”
The FY 2025 MALPF figures will be available to Planning and Codes by January 2026. “In the event that that information becomes no longer available, we would go with our second option that's laid out with our process for obtaining two appraisals ourselves and getting the fair market value,” Dadds said.
Breeding congratulated everyone who worked on the legislations. “This one's been kicked around for quite some time,” Commission President Travis Breeding said. “Thank you everyone, because I think there probably wasn't a department untouched.”
“We appreciate everyone's help in getting this enacted, and I think it's a good step forward for the county,” Breeding said.
Watts Creek dredging disposal OKed
As the Maryland Department of Natural Resources looks to channel dredge next year at the mouth of Watts Creek at the Martinak State Park boat ramp south of Denton, they “are looking for a place to put their spoilings,” said Jamie Beechey, director of Caroline County Department of Recreation and Parks. That location will be the county’s dredge disposal site near Choptank Marina.
“When we initially applied for grant funding for dredging, when we had probably more than our dredge disposal site could handle, DNR gave us the money to go ahead and clear the dredge disposal site for these very reasons, because we locally are one of the only dredge disposal sites,” Beechey said. “This is the rationale for why DNR gave us the funding. … DNR funding covered 100% of the cost to remove the spoils.”
“It's nice to be able to do these favors, and DNR has been a considerable partner of ours in the last 10 years with respect to funding,” she said. Breeding said, “DNR just spent, I believe, a considerable sum of money on upgrades to the boat ramp at Martinak state park as well.”
The Commissioners authorized the receipt of the 2,000 cubic yards of material from Martinak State Park to be deposited at the county’s dredge disposal site on Poplar Neck Road near Choptank Marina.
“I'm not sure that dredging this would benefit Camp Mardela, but I know there are some property owners that do run their boats up in Watts Creek,” Breeding said.
“And it benefits the community,” Commissioner Frank Bartz said.
Other legislation moves forward
Public hearings on two additional bills received no public comment as they were read for the second time. Legislative Bill 2025-012, Compliance with the 2025 Maryland Renewable Energy Act, and Bill 2025-013, Amend Wastewater Facility, were introduced Oct. 14 and moved to a third reading Oct. 28.
The Commissioners approved Resolution 2025-033, which removes the cap on consecutive terms of service by members of the 4-H Park Advisory Board. The term of office for board members is three years, and they are eligible for re-appointment by the County Commissioners for consecutive or subsequent terms. Formerly, members could serve only two consecutive terms, with one year off before being eligible to serve again.
The Commissioners adopted their 2026 meeting schedule.
To watch the entire livestreamed meeting, visit https://carolinecountymd.new.swagit.com/videos/358631.
