Advocacy
Saving A Rural County
Queen Anne's County is a rural county. It is the leading agricultural county in Maryland. It is at the heart of the Eastern Shore - a landscape comprising the oldest continuously worked lands in America and the largest area of farmland left on the Atlantic coastal plain.
Some of our farmlands are now passing into the hands of developers. Others remain in the hands of those who bought or inherited a farm, but now want to plant their final crop - houses.
No owner of farmland, whether a new purchaser or a long-time holder, has an inalienable right to turn his fields and woodlands into a subdivision - any more than the owner of a subdivision lot has a right to turn his property into a chicken farm.
The community as a whole, acting through its government, sets the rules for when a property owner can change the use of his property. That's why we have planning and zoning and regulation of subdivisions - to ensure that one man's use of his land is consistent with the welfare of all.
QACA develops and initiates efforts to educate government officials (including municipal, county and state officials), and special interest groups about policies and proposals that are important to the future of the county.
QACA is involved with shaping the Queen Anne's County Comprehensive Plan, to develop progressive regulations applicable to rural and existing communities, and to support the vision that the county has embraced for itself. As is stated on the Queen Anne's County Comprehensive Plan Website, the vision for the future of the county, first suggested by QACA, and later adopted by the County Commissioners reads:
"The vision for the future of Queen Anne's County has remained constant with emphasis on maintaining and enhancing a "predominately rural county with small towns connected by creeks and county roads through fields and forest - a great place to live; a county that encourages agriculture, seafood and maritime industries, tourism and outdoor sports, small business and
high tech enterprise - a good place to work; a county that is a faithful steward of its natural and cultural heritage - a good neighbor for the Bay and other Eastern Shore counties; a county in which development by some does not impair the quality of life enjoyed by all - a good community that protects the expectations and opportunities of all its citizens."
