Cecil County Executive Danielle Hornberger today announced that an additional 236 acres of prime agricultural land are now permanently protected through the Maryland Agricultural Land Preservation Foundation (MALPF).
The property, which is on Randalia Road in Chesapeake City, falls within a Priority Preservation Area (PPA), meets future land use objectives, and is consistent with the 2010 Comprehensive Plan.
“Preserving agricultural land is vital to our County’s environment, community, and heritage. I am pleased that we have taken another step towards our 55,000-acre agricultural preservation goal,” said County Executive Hornberger.
The Cecil County Department of Land Use & Development Services continues to work toward the 55,000-acre agricultural preservation goal, which was set in 2000. 30,520 acres have been placed into protective agricultural easement and an additional 22,766 acres are owned by federal, state, and local governments. With this new addition, the County has permanently protected 53,286 acres of land from development.
According to a County press release:
The farm was once part of the larger 913-acre Polk Steele Howard farm which occupied most of the Randalia peninsula. An apiary was operated on the farm until the 1950s, and again in recent years. The farm was also previously used for asparagus and beef cattle. Currently, the farm is used for field crops and Randalia Bee Hives.
MALPF was one of the first created in the United States and has become one of the nation’s leaders in agricultural land preservation.
