Maryland’s Legislature is dominated by Senators and Delegates from urban centers—lawmakers who wield an overwhelming majority to pass legislation that does not meaningfully impact their constituents. They legislate from a distance, with little regard for the rural communities bearing the consequences.
SB0931 and HB1036 are prime examples of this disconnect.
The Majority has sided with the Solar Energy Industry, overriding the voices of rural counties and trampling on local land-use planning and taxation authority. These counties—required by the state to invest time, energy, and taxpayer money into drafting Comprehensive Plans—have done so with care, ensuring growth aligns with the aspirations of their residents. These plans form the backbone of land-use ordinances, designed to protect communities, preserve agricultural lands, and foster responsible development.
Yet the Majority seeks to dismantle this process, imposing laws that strip counties of their ability to safeguard farmland from industrialization. By forcing solar projects onto agricultural land, this legislation accelerates the loss of productive farmland, threatening the future of farming and the cultural heritage that defines our rural communities. The facts cannot be ignored: Maryland’s solar expansion is happening on agricultural land, and the richest, most productive farmland is concentrated in the very rural counties that the Majority chooses to ignore—particularly on the Eastern Shore.
SB0931 enforces a one-size-fits-all landscaping standard for solar developments, disregarding the unique character of each community. It treats the gateway to a historic town the same as a remote backroad, ignoring the value of scenic viewsheds and historic landscapes. Rural communities are not just places on a map; they are living histories, cultures rooted in agriculture, and the embodiment of Maryland’s heritage. This bill sacrifices those values in the name of misguided environmental policy.
Adding insult to injury, the Majority is also undermining local financial autonomy, restricting how counties generate revenue while simultaneously increasing the burden of unfunded mandates with other pieces of legislation. It is an attack on local governance, forcing counties to do more with less while their voices are drowned out in Annapolis.
And for what? The climate benefit that SB0931is meant to support will result in a mere 0.16% reduction of Maryland’s contribution to global CO₂ emissions—an impact so minuscule it is statistically irrelevant. Yet the cost is devastating: the destruction of farmland, the erosion of rural culture, and the continued disenfranchisement of Maryland’s rural communities.
The Majority will pat themselves on the back for their “progress,” but make no mistake: rural Maryland is being sacrificed for political convenience. We cannot stand by in silence while the communities of rural counties around the state and the Eastern Shore are being sacrificed.
David Sobers says
Agreed. Please provide the names of the bills’ sponsors as well as the names of the elected representatives the readers should petition to not enact it. Thanks.
Paula Reeder says
Mrs. Lewis is, as usual, playing Chicken Little in her tireless effort to stop the expansion of rewewable energy sites and other development on agricultural land in Kent County and the Eastern Shore.
The fact is that we will all benefit from reduced reliance on fossil fuel-based energy production – both in terms of reduced energy costs and increased energy resiliancy. Further, Mrs. Lewis’s prediction of unmitigated loss of productive farmland to renewable energy development if the bills she opposes are enacted is a chimera. Here’s why.
In Kent County,over 25% of total farmland has already been placed in permanent preservation by owners (including Mrs. Lewis) who have been paid as much as,or more, than they paid for their property by the State for perpetual easements on their property that permit them to continue to live on site and leave the property to their heirs while permantently preventing future development. Additionally, a significant portion of our farmland has been designated Agricultural Preservation District land which is in line to be placed in permanent preservation in the near future.
A total over 85% of Kent County’s farm land (including Mrs. Lewis’s property and other farmland currently in Preservation Districts and Permanent Preservation) is defined as “agrigultural use” property by the State and is taxed at just $500/acre under Maryland’s Preferred Assessment” rules: requiring that residential and commercial property owners who occupy just 15% of Kent County property foot the bill for 85%+ of total county and local property taxes. In the meantime, Mrs. Lewis and other residents who enjoy the Preferred Assessment property tax benefit, are accorded the same access to county services and our public school system as residential and commercial property owners who end up substantially subsidizing their use of those services. Largely as a result of this very favorable tax treatment, Kent County farmland owners generaly have no desire to sell their property and elect to sequester it from development – irrespective of the County’s need for additional housing, commercial development, increased energy generation capability and infrastucture improvement.
That being the case, Mrs. Lewis argument isn’t really about an inability to preserve farmland – for all pactical purposes that’s already been done. It’s about resisting future development based solely on personal preference. In response, Kent County government and residents need to acknowledge and work to address the needs and preferences of all County residents not just a select few; support legislative land use initiatives that will benefit a majority of our residents; and advocate a more fair, better balanced allocation of property tax-based community services funding responsiblity among County taxpayers.