‘Save the Garage’: The ongoing battle over a beloved music venue on the Agricultural Reserve

The Garage door is being lowered. Again.

A beloved local music venue on Boyds’ Honey Acres Farm in Montgomery County’s Agricultural Reserve must shut down all public music events, per a district court judge’s recent ruling.

Its founders are fighting back. Opponents argue there’s no place for a music venue on protected farmland. Muddy definitions of “agritourism” are complicating the situation.

“I’ve heard time and time again that this is the only place that some people feel safe or that people feel at home or that they feel like they can really be themselves,” Garage cofounder Grace Cotting said.

What began as a hangout spot for Cotting and cofounder Levi Hebeisen, both now 23, and friends in Hebeisen’s parents’ garage has grown over the past six years into a small venue with a loyal following, including many who don’t feel there are enough alternative gathering spots in the county for young music lovers.

But the Garage’s time as a legitimate, profit-making business has been fraught with permitting woes that its owners attribute to unfair complaints and a lack of communication from the Montgomery County Department of Permitting Services.

“They say that they are a complaint-based system,” Cotting said. “Usually they notify people as complaints come in, but they did not with us — they just hit us very suddenly.”

A spokesperson for the department declined to comment, citing pending litigation.

A year ago, the department ordered the Garage to cease all operations. The venue’s owners took the department to court, and a judge upheld the cease-and-desist order.

Cotting said the team stopped hosting shows for about a month in the aftermath, during which it tried to meet with DPS to “find some middle ground and create a solution.” But she said efforts to communicate with the department have gone unanswered. The Garage resumed shows until receiving the latest cease-and-desist notice May 19.

“We’ve been trying to propose new ideas, we’ve been trying to work with them and find something that would actually work, and they have outright refused to meet with us for a year now,” Cotting said. “It’s a little hard to work with an all-powerful governing body when they refuse to talk to you.”

County Council member Marilyn Balcombe, who represents the Upcounty, previously visited the Garage and met with its owners. She’s supportive of their efforts and noted the situation is “frustrating” for the founders, saying there isn’t a system in place to help them do what they want.

“What is the difference between an amplified concert in the garage versus classical music in the barn? It’s a good question for them to ask. Is this an individual’s taste, or is it subjective?” Balcombe said. “I mean, art is subjective. I feel for them. I understand their question of if they are being unfairly targeted.”

What is agritourism?

When the Agricultural Reserve was established 46 years ago, it was meant to protect farmland, support food production and celebrate outdoor recreation.

But, as farms have struggled financially in recent years, many have turned to agritourism, which includes initiatives such as wineries, farm tours and even alpaca yoga to bring in new customers.

The county does not, however, have a strict definition of what falls under the agritourism umbrella. That has led to unnecessary confusion and cherry-picking, Cotting argued.

“There’s no regulations; there’s no code for people to follow,” Cotting said. “It’s just the word ‘agritourism’ and however DPS would like to interpret it at that time.”

The lack of definition and inconsistent enforcement are two of the biggest challenges to the local farming industry, according to a Montgomery Planning report by the Agritourism Study Advisory Committee.

Not everyone wants to broaden ideas of what agritourism could bring to the area.

Some residents near the Garage made noise complaints to lawmakers and Agricultural Reserve advocacy organizations, said Caroline Taylor, Montgomery Countryside Alliance executive director.

Cotting disputes the claim that the Garage has been a noise nuisance. She said the venue makes sure it’s “within county ordinance for noise.”

Taylor said she inquired about the situation with DPS and was told it was looking into it. She argues that zoning regulations require businesses in the Agricultural Reserve to connect to farming in some way.

The Garage tried to appease the department by selling honey and flowers grown on Honey Acres to no avail. The farm itself offers agritourism attractions, including wedding venues, overnight stays, flower bouquet sales and farm camps for kids.

“The type of music doesn’t matter, whether it’s heavy metal or it’s symphonic,” she said. “What I’d love to have these folks understand is that they bought a piece of land in an agricultural reserve.”

It’s a slippery slope from allowing one small music venue to exist on farmland to allowing industrial solar facilities, data centers and other businesses to take over and drive up prices for land that’s becoming increasingly difficult for farmers to afford, Taylor added.

“People like music. Of course they do, and of course they want to have music, and it’s a nice place to be,” Taylor said. “But to say all of that should take priority over the purpose of this place, I think, is a problematic way to look at it.”

‘Use your voice to complain’

The Garage’s fight for the right to party persists.

The venue’s website includes a page encouraging supporters to “bother your council members,” including templates for emails about zoning amendments and DPS reform.

“If it’s a complaint-based system, use your voice to complain,” Cotting said. “We are bothering our council members to let them know that there is a problem that they don’t care about.”

Balcombe has received a slew of emails from constituents in the last week calling for the county, among other grievances, to determine a concrete definition of agritourism.

“That really looks at the underpinning of what the Agricultural Reserve is and has been for 43 years,” she said. “It’s not as simple as just changing the definition. That’s not a simple ask.”

In the meantime, the Garage is finding temporary homes at venues in Maryland and D.C. to host its summer lineup, including a Pride Festival.

But it wants to bring the music home to Montgomery County.

“We’re still figuring out next steps, but for now [the plan is] ‘be loud about the problem,’” Cotting said. “It’s really not about us — it’s about the people that need this space to exist."