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way to preserve land is through purchase of development rights. Development
rights are the rights of landowners to use their land for any purpose,
such as farming, building homes or businesses, etc. Development rights
can be bought and sold independently of land. If the development
rights of a piece of land are purchased, the landowner can sell the land,
but the owner of the development rights still decides how the land may
be used. The cost of development rights of farmland is the difference
between the overall market value and the agricultural value.
The reasons for buying development rights, a form of conservation
easement, of farms and open land are:
• prevent unchecked sprawl
• keep the price of agricultural land at a level farmers can afford
- helping keep local farmers in business
• preserve some of the remaining open space in and around Ann Arbor
• reduce capital gains and MI income tax (click here)
Land
preservation in Michigan
At a public forum at WCC in the summer of 2003 several farmers told very
eloquent and heartening stories about their experiences with Purchase
of Development Rights (PDR) program. It immediately put money
into their pockets allowing them to pay debts, continue farming and even
expand operations, made their future more secure and even lowered their
taxes since participation in the program made part of the land value deductible.
Although farmland is most often involved in these programs, PDR programs
are available to any landowner--not just farmers.
Gordon Hayward, Peninsula Township planner, spoke very articulately and
thoroughly about the success of creating a PDR
program in Peninsula Township on Grand Traverse Bay which
has protected over 4000 acres. When this plan was recently on
the ballot for increased funding it passed by a wide margin. This
program is now 10 years old. Details of the current program are here.
Now Ann Arbor has, by a landslide, passed a land preservation program
and neighboring Ann Arbor Township overwhelmingly passed their own
township land preservation
proposal.
Many groups and individuals supported the Ann Arbor initiative, including
the Michigan Farm Bureau, as well as both Democrat and Republican
politicians.
About PDR programs
The loss of farmland and open space throughout the country has become
a very important issue in recent years. As more and more land becomes
developed, an increasing number of tools have been created to preserve
the land that remains. One of the tools that has captured the imagination
of planners, elected officials, and others is the purchase of development
rights (PDR). Currently 18 states have active PDR programs. Click here
to read a fact sheet on PDR programs.
Successful PDR and other land preservation programs around the
country (all open in a new window)
(this list is a small sample of active PDR programs)
Arizona: McDowell Sonoran
Land Trust
California: Greenbelt
Alliance
Colorado: The
Nature Conservancy
Connecticut: Farmland
Preservation Program, American
Farmland Trust, Working
Land's Alliance
Maryland: Maryland
Land Conservation Center
Montana: The
Trust for Public Land
New Jersey: New
Jersey Conservation Foundation, New
Jersey Future
Pennsylvania: Greenspace
Alliance, County
of Erie, PA, Intelligencer-Record
Virginia: Loudoun.County
PDR, Journal
of Loudoun County
other states: The Trust
for Public Land, The
Nature Conservancy, American
Farmland Trust
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