Ch. 238                                           LAWS OF MARYLAND

days of the notification, the county governing body shall advise
the foundation as to local approval or disapproval of the
application. The foundation shall grant a 30 day extension of
this response period if the county governing body applies to the
foundation for an extension and states its reasons for seeking
an extension. In deciding whether to approve the application, the
county governing body shall receive the recommendation of the
county agricultural preservation advisory board established under
§ 2-504.1 of this subtitle. In making its recommendation, the
county agricultural preservation advisory board shall take into
consideration criteria and standards established by the
foundation under this subtitle; current local regulations, local
patterns of land development, and any locally established
priorities for the preservation of agricultural land. The county
agricultural preservation advisory board shall provide a public
hearing concerning any application to sell if such a hearing is
requested by a majority of the county agricultural preservation
advisory board, or by a majority of the county governing body, or
by the applicant. The board of trustees of the foundation shall
not approve any application to sell which has not been approved
by the governing body of the county containing the subject land.

[(e)] (F) (1) In determining which applications it shall
approve for the purchase of the easements offered for sale IN
EACH OFFER CYCLE under this section, the foundation:

(i) May approve only those applications in
which the subject land meets the criteria and standards
established under §§ 2-509 and 2-513 of this subtitle; and

(ii) Shall rank the applications and submit
offers to buy in order of priority, as provided in this
subsection.

(2) The foundation shall adopt by rule and regulation
a standard priority ranking system by which it shall rank each
application. The system shall be based on the following criteria
as to the easements offered in any one county:

(i) The applications shall be assigned a rank
in ascending order with respect to the proportion obtained by
dividing the asking price by the State appraised easement value.
The resulting rank shall be the sole criterion for establishing
the priority for discounted applications that include proportions
of 1.0 or lower.

(ii) All additional applications which include
proportions greater than 1.0 shall be assigned a numerical value
that, in regard to the land for which the easement is offered,
reflects:

1. The relative productive capacity of
the land;

- 2228 -