Commission recommends rezoning of roughly 150 acres after finding 2009 zoning error and existing conservation easement

The Worcester County Planning Commission voted to recommend rezoning about 150 acres from the E1 estate district to A1 agricultural zoning after hearing that the property has been under a deed of conservation easement since June 22, 2009.

Applicant representative Hugh Crocker argued the E1 zoning designation resulted from a good-faith mistake during the county’s comprehensive rezoning process, and that the parcel’s conservation easement — he said dated June 22, 2009 — precludes subdivision. Former county natural-resources administrator Chris McCabe testified that the property was subject to the conservation easement before the comprehensive rezone and that the easement prevents subdivision.

Crocker and witnesses said the parcel remains active farmland with tillable acreage planted in corn and soybeans; staff and the commission noted the county’s land-use map designates the area for agriculture. Commissioners reviewed the standard eight rezoning questions used by the county and found no changes in population, public facilities or transportation patterns that would weigh against rezoning. They concluded the requested A1 zoning would be more consistent with the comprehensive plan and the property’s present use.

Staff and the applicant discussed density comparisons: E1 provides roughly one dwelling unit per two acres (which, on the property’s approximate acreage, would have yielded a substantially larger number of dwellings under E1). The commission voted by voice vote to forward a favorable recommendation to the county commissioners.

The rezoning recommendation will be transmitted to the Worcester County Commissioners for final action; staff said the item may return as part of a later comprehensive rezoning discussion or as a separate legislative action before the commissioners.