Carroll commissioners voted unanimously Friday to enact a "right-to-farm" law that members of a Bachmans Valley citizen group say offers farmers too much protection.
The law, which took effect immediately, is broad, vague and Draconian, an attorney for the Bachmans Valley Community Association wrote in a letter Wednesday asking the commissioners to postpone voting on the measure.
The residents became interested in the issue after flies that they blamed on two nearby egg farms swarmed around their homes last summer.
The commissioners considered the right-to-farm law for nearly a year. Friday was the last day of their four-year term. A new board of commissioners, elected Nov. 8, takes office tomorrow.
Farmers have been asking for the law for about five years. It is designed to protect them from complaints about their operations if they are following generally accepted agricultural practices. Seven other Maryland counties and all 50 states have right-to-farm laws.
Carroll's law establishes a citizens committee to help resolve problems between farmers and neighbors. It requires that the county notify anyone who buys land about the law. At a meeting Friday morning, the commissioners increased the citizens committee -- called the reconciliation committee -- to five members from three. Commissioner Donald I. Dell, a Westminster dairy and grain farmer, opposed the change.
Commissioner Julia W. Gouge suggested it, saying, "It would give citizens a feeling they're truly represented."
The committee will hear complaints about problems such as odors, noise, dust, insects or chemicals. The goal is to keep the complaints from becoming lawsuits.
The farmers who drafted the law proposed that the commissioners appoint two members of the reconciliation committee -- one not involved with agriculture and one who had a reputation for fairness and might or might not be involved with agriculture.
The county Agriculture Commission would appoint the third member on a case-by-case basis.
In amending the law, the commissioners agreed that two members of the committee would be named on a case-by-base basis by the Agriculture Commission, one from the county chapter of the Maryland Municipal League, one from a county homeowners' association and one person from the community at large who is not involved in agriculture.
The commissioners will have the final say about who is appointed to the committee.
Mrs. Gouge said she did not want to see the reconciliation committee become "a political football."
Mr. Dell, the only commissioner who will serve on the next board, said he opposed changing the makeup of the committee because the original plan was "reasonable."
The commissioners also amended the ordinance so that the reconciliation committee will deal only with the effects of farming on neighbors, not the effect of neighbors on farms.
Mr. Dell asked where a farmer would go to file a complaint about people who ride all-terrain vehicles through the farmer's fields or dump yard waste in his fields.
County Attorney Charles W. Thompson Jr. said the farmer could file criminal trespass charges.
Norm and Linda Lewis, who own a 28-acre horse farm in the 400 block of John Owings Road, said they had hoped to persuade the commissioners to postpone voting on the right-to-farm law.
"It was written with a lot of good intentions," Mr. Lewis said. "But it is full of gray areas."
The definition of "generally accepted agricultural practices" is vague, he said.
The law defines them as methods that do not violate federal, state or local laws and that are considered best management practices by agencies such as the Carroll County Cooperative Extension Service.
The definition goes on to say, "If no generally accepted agricultural practice exists or there is no method authorized by those agencies mentioned herein which governs a practice, the practice is presumed to be a generally accepted agricultural practice."
Mrs. Lewis said members of the Bachmans Valley Community Association considered asking a Circuit Court judge to issue an injunction against the law, but decided against it.
The residents, who hired Westminster attorney Michelle M. Ostrander to represent them, probably will ask the next board of commissioners to amend the law, said Mrs. Lewis.
The flies that swarmed around their neighborhood last summer prevented them from opening a horse farm, she said.
"The main problem is dumping larvae-laden chicken manure is an accepted agricultural practice," Mrs. Lewis said.