$7.1M Approved for County Governments by Board of Public Works

Today the Maryland Board of Public works approved $7.1M for county governments with funds from Program Open Space, the Rural Legacy Fund, and prior year commitments from the state capital budget.

The Maryland Board of Public Works meeting today saw the approval of funds for six county governments across nine projects. The allocations total a little over $7.1M. The largest allocation went to Frederick in the amount of $4M, in two distributions, from funds previously approved in the 2023 Capital Budget. Neither of these require a local match and the funds will be used for cybersecurity enhancements and public safety infrastructure.

Queen Anne’s received the next largest distribution totaling a little over $1M in Rural Legacy Funds. The remaining amounts came from Program Open Space for around $2.1M and will be supporting projects in Anne Arundel, Talbot, Howard, and Worcester.

Find project specific details below.

Anne Arundel

  • A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $940,000 in Program Open Space funding allocated to Anne Arundel County to acquire 21.8 acres.

Frederick

  • A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $3,000,000 grant to Frederick County, Maryland for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of cybersecurity measures, including the retrofitting of a facility and construction of a new server and data room. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant. The General Assembly previously approved this funding as part of the 2023 Capital Budget.
  • A request to enter into a grant agreement for a $1,000,000 grant to Frederick County, Maryland for the acquisition, planning, design, construction, repair, renovation, reconstruction, site improvement, and capital equipping of public safety infrastructure improvements. There is no matching fund requirement for this grant.  The General Assembly previously approved this funding as part of the 2023 Capital Budget.

Howard

  • A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $400,259 from the Program Open Space funding allocated to Howard County to improve roadways, pathways, and parking lots at Schooley Mill Park.

Queen Anne’s

  • A request to provide grants to Queen Anne’s County from Rural Legacy Funds for acquisition of two conservation easements in the Lands End Rural Legacy Area (Thompson Farms LLC). Both easements listed below will be co-held by the Department of Natural Resources and the Board of County Commissioners of Queen Anne’s County. The County is paying administrative and program compliance costs.
    • $531,119.90 grant for the acquisition of a 117-acre conservation easement. Acquisition of this conservation easement will protect productive agricultural land, wetlands, and woodlands in the Island Creek watershed.  Island Creek is a tributary to the Chester River. Easement value: $4,451.54/acre
    • $482,817.60 grant for the acquisition of a 105-acre conservation easement. Acquisition of this easement will protect productive agricultural fields and forested lands, as well as approximately 1,880 linear feet of forested buffer along Island Creek and an unnamed tributary of it, both of which flow to the Chester River. Easement value: $4476.88/acre
  • A request from the Department of Natural Resources to grant $123,574.47 of Program Open Space stateside funds to Queen Anne’s County for the acquisition of an 18.37-acre Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) easement (Councell Trustees property). Acquisition of this CREP easement permanently protects water quality by retaining over 3,100 linear feet of forested buffers along an unnamed tributary to the Wye East River in the Wye River Watershed. The easement also retains 2,600 linear feet of filter strip along the forest edge. The easement will be held by the Board of County Commissioners of Queen Anne’s County and the Maryland Department of Natural Resources.

Talbot 

  • A request from the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) to grant $511,979.48 of Program Open Space stateside funds to Talbot County for the acquisition of a 56.9-acre Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP) easement (Claggett property). Acquisition of this easement permanently protects water quality by retaining filter strips along field edges and forested buffers along Island Creek in the Choptank River watershed. As part of the transaction, the landowner will be donating 96.95 acres of the property into the easement for 153.85 acres of total protection. The easement will be held by the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy, Inc. and DNR.

Worcester 

  • A request from the Department of Natural Resources to commit $135,000 from the Program Open Space funding allocated to Worcester County to design and construct an expanded parking area at Showell Park.