KCPA applies to Maryland Preservation for the ‘Six to Fix’ Program

(l to r)Nicholas Redding, Executive Director of Preservation Maryland, Secretary Elizabeth Watson(KCPA), Chair Janet Christensen-Lewis(KCPA), and Board Member John Lysinger.

(l to r) Nicholas Redding, Executive Director of Preservation Maryland, Secretary Elizabeth Watson (KCPA), Chair Janet Christensen-Lewis (KCPA), and Board Member John Lysinger.

Nancy and John Lysinger hosted a cocktail party for Nicholas Redding, Executive Director of Preservation Maryland, at their restored Chesterville National Register historic home and gardens on August 1. This event capped his tour of the Chesterville/Morgan Creek landscape district within the Stories of the Chesapeake Heritage Area. The Kent Conservation and Preservation Alliance

(KCPA) has applied to Preservation Maryland (PreservationMaryland.org) for the ‘Six to Fix’ program to highlight this important cultural landscape and the adverse effect that energy sprawl would have on this important asset in Kent County. Kent County zoning protects this land, reserving off-farm, utility scale solar development for industrial/employment zones.

KCPA is working to insure that Kent County’s zoning continues to protect this endangered cultural landscape where 255 entries in the Maryland Inventory of Historic Properties(MIHT), 18 National Register Sites and districts, and 2 MHT preservation easement can be found.

The expanse of farmland,an unspoiled and beautiful place, tells the story of one of the oldest intact working landscapes in America. Intrusions into the landscape for large industrial projects such as the 370 acre renewable energy facility proposed by Apex’s Mills Branch Solar, LLC, threaten the heritage area that Kent County has sought to protect.

On August 2, KCPA’s motion to re-open the case at the Public Service Commission (PSC) concerning the Mills Branch Solar project was granted by Public Utilities Law Judge Dennis Sober. KCPA had complained that a change in licensing conditions submitted by the DNR’s Power Plant Research Program (PPRP), which by law advises the PSC, required formal admission of new evidence along with the opportunity to examine witnesses related to the action. The hearing is scheduled for August 29 in Baltimore.