Robert and Maxine Walker have sunk 15 years' work and tons of money into restoring and improving their white 1840 farmhouse along with the barns, sheds, fences and 145 acres around them on Jennings Chapel Road in Woodbine, near the Patuxent River.
Their neighbors in Howard's rural, hilly horse country credit them with an admirable job at Harwood Farm, where all but 10.5 acres of the horse and grain farm is permanently protected from development.
"Their farm is a beauty spot on Jennings Chapel Road," said G. Gordon Kirwan, Jr., who lives across the road.
But at an age when many couples yearn to slow down in a low-maintenance retirement condominium, the Walkers want to raise money for more renovations by opening an antiques store in an old shed near their hilltop home, and by occasionally renting out a small portion of their property for outdoor social events for up to 150 people. Each November, they host several hundred people for the Iron Bridge Hounds fox hunt, they said, without any problems.
Some neighbors support their conditional-use zoning request - the first attempt to use a 2006 county zoning law change sponsored by former County Councilman Charles C. Feaga - but others are strongly opposed, fearing heavy weekend traffic, noise, drunken drivers and creeping commercialization. The case is due to be aired before the county's hearing examiner at 6 p.m. April 5 in the county's temporary offices at 8930 Stanford Blvd. in east Columbia.
"What I hate the most is changing the character of Jennings Chapel," said neighboring farmer Lambert Cissel, 71. "This is a designated scenic road." Cissel and others worry about how future owners of Harwood Farm would use the new zoning, if granted, but the Walkers are dreaming of their own plans.
"We want to make this farm much more beautiful," said Maxine Walker, 69.
Her husband agreed. "I don't belong to a country club, I don't have a boat. Horses are my pleasure," said Robert Walker, 70. He says jokingly that he's retired but still works seven days a week.
He'd like to replace oak flooring with more authentic pine in one room in the house, expose another walled-in original fireplace, knock down an old shed, build a new brood barn and replace more fencing, among other things. Over the years, the couple gutted the house and restored it to near-pristine condition, renovated the existing 1840 barn with a new concrete floor, wood stalls and tack rooms, a shiny metal roof and bright yellow and green exterior paint to match their racing colors. But all that takes money, they said.
"Whatever you think it costs, it costs twice as much," Robert Walker said. Still, the Walkers say they are sensitive to the concerns of nearby residents, too.
"We would not want to do anything to adversely affect our neighbors," said Maxine Walker.
Under the law, areas designated as "limited outdoor social assembly areas" can be allowed on a farm of more than 5 acres, if near a historic site or structure, for up to 25 times per year for up to 150 people during specified hours. There can be no permanent structures built, and nearby residential properties must be shielded from noise. Events such as picnics, retirement parties, weddings, bridal or baby showers, fundraisers for nonprofit groups or rehearsal dinners would have to use tents and portable toilets that must be removed within three days after an event.
The Walkers, who said they lived most of their working lives in a small rowhouse in Washington, do have local supporters.
Janice Brice, who keeps two horses on her 6 acres across Jennings Chapel Road from Harwood Farm, favors their idea.
"It would be a wonderful place for the equestrian community to have events," she said, and an outdoor wedding would be pretty and possibly more economical. "I don't have any objections," she said.
Kirwan submitted a letter of support praising the Walkers' stewardship of their property and noting no complaints from the annual hunt event, despite scores of vehicles, horse trailers and trucks.
"If the Walkers want to open their farm to the occasional wedding reception, please let them do it," Kirwan wrote.
Like many other farm owners, the Walkers are looking for a financial boost beyond the income from horse boarding and breeding, and from renting their fields for grain farming.
"Farmers are more and more leaning to diversify and use the public" to help pay the bills, said Howie Feaga, president of the Howard County Farm Bureau. "It's always controversial," he said, which is why the bureau rarely gets involved in individual cases.
But other neighbors fear that approval would change the area forever.
"I have a lot of respect for Mr. Walker. He's a very good neighbor," said Cissel, who lives with his wife, Marge, in a stone and log home they built on their 140-acre turf farm just north of Harwood Farm.
Like other nearby farmers, Cissel has deep family roots in this remote area of western Howard, where much of the nearby land is in permanent preservation or backs to Patuxent River State Park along the river, which is the border with Montgomery County.
"This type of thing pits neighbor against neighbor. It's sad," said Cissel, whose farm is within sight of Harwood. He and other critics of the Walkers' plans said they fear noise, lights, trash, smells and dozens of strangers coming down their narrow winding roads up to 25 times a year - people who would leave after imbibing alcohol.
Still, Cissel said he's seen even greater changes as suburban homes crept into the area over his lifetime, and he hopes to maintain a good relationship with the Walkers.
"If he gets [zoning approval], fine. He's still a good friend."
Art and Katherine Willson, who live on 72 acres just south of the Walkers, said they also oppose the plans. "We've got an incredibly nice area to live in, and they want to change it," Katherine Willson said.
The Willsons said they can hear bands playing at Cattail Creek Country Club on summer nights, which is on Route 97, much farther from their horse breeding farm than the Walkers are. All but 8 acres of their land is also in permanent preservation.
"To look at big white tents is not in keeping with what we did to put the farm in preservation," Katherine Willson said. Art Willson said he feels the events could also lower the value of his property if potential buyers knew of the social gatherings next door.
"We think it's going to affect all the people on the road," Art Willson said.