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Mission Statement
Conserve, steward, and advocate for the unique rural landscape of the Eastern Shore.

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News

Video and Presentation link from Chesterfield (Carter Farm) Community Meeting – June 14, 2016

Video from ESLC-led Chesterfield (Carter Farm) Community Meeting featuring speaker Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute. (Video courtesy of QACTV.)   Powerpoint Presentation: Ed McMahon Eastern Shore Workshop   Handouts from the meeting:  Article - Conservation Communities Article - Secrets of Successful Communities (PCJ) Article - The End of the Strip  

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Chesterfield Community Meeting a Success; Two More Charrettes in June

An engaged crowd of approximately 60 Centreville residents showed up to the Wye River Upper School on Tuesday evening (6/14) to listen to Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute, who spoke for more than an hour about current, succesful town development strategies around the country. Mr. McMahon fielded quesitons following his presentation and spoke directly as to the current potential/importance of Chesterfield (Carter Farm) in creating a vibrant, future Centreville. The entire session was filmed by Queen Anne's Public Television and will be played during the weeks to follow.   Community Conversation at 408 Chesterfield Ave., June 17th & 24th If you missed Tuesday's community meeting or the first Friday charrette on June 3rd, not to worry - ESLC is hosting two more opportunitites to come out to the Chesterfield property, walk the land, and have your input heard. Snacks, lemonade, and cornhole will be available to help ease you into the weekend:)

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“ESLC Wants to Think Big and Smart with Historic Chesterfield (Carter Farm) in Centreville”

(This is an article and video interview that was published in The Chestertown Spy on May 30, 2016.) If there was a plot of land that combines the importance of history, conservation, land use and the dreams of a new Centreville it undoubtedly would be the Carter Farm on Chesterfield Road. Owned for decades by the late Judge Clayton Carter, the 72-acre property is now actively being considered as a top priority project of the Eastern Shore Land Conservancy. It is not hard to understand why the ESLC is seriously considering the two sites for both open space and smart growth residential use. The farm and house are located only a few minutes walk from Centreville’s historic downtown but has been zoned to accommodate 132 new homes if entirely built out. As the ESLC’s Center for Towns director, Katie Parks, notes in her interview with the Spy, ESLC is eager to work with a multitude of different community stakeholders to look hard and long at how the site can best be developed over the next few years. If a consensus can be created, ESLC and the greater Centreville community might indeed have the beginnings of a transformational scheme for rural towns on the Mid-Shore. This video is approximately five minutes in length.

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Reimagining Carter Farm, Centreville

The Eastern Shore Land Conservancy (ESLC) has worked since 1990 to preserve and sustain the communities of the Eastern Shore, and the lands and waters that connect them.  Toward this mission, we have helped protect over 57,000 acres of prime agricultural and natural lands, which in partnership with other conservation efforts means nearly a quarter of our rural lands are protected.  More recently, ESLC launched a program called the Center for Towns that endeavors to provide support and actions that help advance our region’s small towns as strong, vibrant, and well-defined places. From this lens of growing strong small towns, ESLC views the development of the Carter Farm as one of the most important opportunities that exists for growing a vibrant Centreville.  The Carter Farm is an approximately 72 acre site comprised of two parcels in Centreville, Maryland.  The properties, currently zoned for residential development with an approved 138 unit subdivision, include a mix of open field and forested land in the Critical Area. After nearly two decades of interest, ESLC has secured a six-month option to purchase the properties.  Our goal during the next six-months is to allow for a community visioning and transparent public process, creation of a set of criteria and performance standards for future development, and development of a master plan that incorporates protection of natural features while supporting development that is consistent with the scale, pace and character of Centreville. In addition to public input, we will work with renowned design and development professionals, to generate ideas and innovations that can help make this project design a valuable asset for the Centreville community. While we are working towards a more determinant vision, we will be considering long-term impacts for Centreville, connection and value to the full community, connectivity and transportation, environmental protection, and public access.  Preliminary ideas include leveraging

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Easton Town Council to Consider a 13 Acre Annexation

(The following information is courtesy of Talbot Preservation Alliance)   Easton Town Council to Consider a 13 Acre Annexation The Town Council will consider the Orion Property annexation request Monday, April 18 at 7:15 p.m., at 14 S. Harrison Street that will add commercial development on St. Michaels Rd (Rt 33) adjoining the Waterside Village shopping center. The owners of the annexation parcel want commercial zoning for the 13 acre property.  But they won't identify any commercial project that they - or a future developer - want to bring to our town. If the annexation is approved the property could be utilized to expand the Waterside Village shopping center. The attorney promoting the annexation has stated that "major retail like a large Home Depot or grocery store" could be developed on the site through Easton's "planned unit development" process. What is the Impact of Already Approved Development? Easton has already approved: Almost a quarter million square feet of new retail space adjoining the proposed annexation parcel, most of which has not yet been built Easton Village, directly across St. Michaels Road from the annexation parcel, will triple its current size to 250 dwelling units. A new 60 unit apartment building just inside the Route 33 entrance to BJ's Questions the Town Council Must Answer Given its certain consequences, annexation should not be approved until the proponents provide, and agree to, a specific plan for how to develop the property. The citizens and the Town Council must evaluate: What will be the traffic impact of more Route 33 commercial development, how can it be mitigated, and who will pay for the mitigation? Will new development be of a type leading to more closures of stores, and empty spaces, in our many existing shopping areas? How will more commercial development conform with Easton's Comprehensive Plan which states "Easton has significantly more commercial development than a community of our population would

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