The Talbot County Council, at its Tuesday, February 13th meeting, voted to purchase an approximately 120-acre property (located adjacent to Maryland Route 322 and Maryland Route 333) in Easton known as Poplar Hill Farm, which brings discussions and efforts to develop the property to a close.
During the meeting, the County Manager requested Council support to acquire the property for future County uses, and to preserve open space and critical area.
The Council unanimously approved the request. Following the vote, Council President Chuck Callahan stated, “This was a phenomenal opportunity to secure the strategically located property for future uses…it’s exciting to be able to secure this property for future use and to maintain open space and to protect the critical area.”
The County will purchase the property for $6M, while noting the property was recently appraised at a market value of $6.99M. Funding for this acquisition will come from capital enabling legislation, Bill No. 1534.
County Manager Clay Stamp described the member’s action to acquire the property as “visionary.”
0 Responses
What a great move!!! Thank you, County Council!!
Wonderfull. Let this purchase define Talbot west of Bypass the right way.
Congratulations to the county council on this action, a victory for the quality of life in Talbot County.
I was so pleased as many others to hear of the Talbot County Councils plan to purchase the Poplar Hill Farm property! That along with the recent purchase of the contiguous woods across from along Oxford Rd. and putting it in conservation is another step in preserving the Oxford Easton corridor. They did the right thing!
One more good deed, please??
Shut down Lakeside!!!
The Talbot Council gave us the best Valentine’s Day gift! Thank you for saving us from a potential Lakeside mess.
So the developer is selling the property to the county, right? But that land is in Easton proper, having been annexed in years ago. Is the land going to go back to the county (de-annexed, so to speak)? Or will the county just own land inside of Easton?
THANK YOU TALBOT COUNTY/COUNCIL! Visionary Indeed.
This was a visionary move by the county council. It is so good to live in an area that values the gifts it has and chooses to protect them for the good of all. Thank you county council for doing the right thing.
Thank you, County Manager Stamp and Council!
600 miles of shoreline offering both coveted waterfront property and limited access hardly makes make your job easy; but this is good news, and we need more of that these days!
I believe I can speak for the residents of Paper Mill Crossing adjacent to this parcel. Wonderful! Open space is critical to the residents of our community. A housing development in this area would clearly jeopardize it
Good news, at least in the sense that the County purchase of the property will stop the development of a large residential neighborhood on the Oxford corridor and in critical area. Also, the proposed development would have continued the transition of the “bypass” to a “slow pass.”
However, tax records indicate that SHR L.C. purchased the property in March, 2021 from the hospital for $3M. The land can appraise at $7M all day long if it can developed. However, if the development wasn’t going to proceed at scale or not at all, the appraised value is dubious at best. Note, I would love to double my money on an investment in 3 years. As a taxpayer though, I am scratching my head a little bit about helping someone else double their money in 3 years.
In closing, I am happy the property is not going to be developed. Hopefully, Easton and Talbot County can gain a little more vision regarding planning and development from a lesson that cost taxpayers minimally $3M (since the County could have just bought the land from the hospital 3 years ago).