February 6, 2002
Land Preservation Effort Gathers Steam
By Rebecca Jackson
Virginia's urban sprawl has breached its concrete dikes and floods over nearby farmland like a lava flow, forever converting furrows to pavement.
It's happening everywhere, from the Washington, D.C. suburbs of northern Virginia and the Tidewater corridor, to the fertile fields of the still largely rural Piedmont.
Many people feel a cause for alarm, considering that the food on the their plates is produced not in some big-city laboratory, but from land devoted to agriculture.
Agriculture is a viable industry in the commonwealth. But Virginia lost nearly 450,000 acres of prime farmland from 1987 to 1997, about five percent of the stateís total land devoted to agriculture, according to the Conservation Land Coalition. Virginiaís Northern Piedmont, a breadbasket since Colonial times, was ranked the second most imperiled farmland region in the nation in a 1997 study by the American Farmland Trust.
There is hope, however, with steps being taken across the state to preserve agricultural land for the future.
Land preservation, too, has the backing of Virginiaís new Governor, Mark L. Warner, who took office in January. When he campaigned for the post, Warner told audiences he wants to keep Virginiaís land preservation efforts more in line with the other mid-Atlantic and Southern states.
Warner wants to dedicate $40 million annually towards green space and farmland preservation by permanently allocating a portion of state recordation tax revenues. That levy, which is assessed on land and real estate transactions, brings in $150 million each year. A farmland preservation agenda unveiled by Warner would phase the money in over several years. The state currently has no dedicated funding and spends no money on open space preservation.
Virginia lags far behind other states in this area, with North Carolina, New Jersey and Florida spending $60 million, $100 million, and $300 million respectively. Maryland plans to spend more than $170 million this year, according to a report in the Washington Business Journal.
At the same time, a poll conducted last year by the American Farmland Trust shows taxpayers want family farms preserved for the future. Four hundred registered voters residing in Northern Virginiaís Fauquier County were interviewed in the survey, with 94 percent of them saying they thought it was important to preserve farmland.
The Fauquier County Board of Supervisors is considering a plan, much like one already in place in Virginia Beach, that helps protect remaining, at-risk farmland and green space. As in the Virginia Beach plan, which was successfully implemented in 1995, Fauquierís effort would call for the county to pay farmers for the development rights to their property. This means the owner could still farm the land, or sell the land for farming, but no one could build a residential subdivision or commercial development on this land. Virginia Beachís Agricultural Reserve Program (ARP) was designed and promoted by a coalition of farm, conservation, business and civic leaders. They shared a common concern for resource and growth management, as well as preservation of agribusiness and a balanced tax base.
It's going to take several years, but the city hopes to buy development rights on as much as 20,000 acres in the southern portion of Virginia Beach.
When a farmer sells the development rights to property, he or she not only ensures the land will be used for agricultural purposes, the producer also reaps several federal, local and state tax breaks. This includes deferral of taxes on capital gains and tax-exempt interest.
Concern over the mounting loss of farmland to development led to Virginiaís adoption of the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program (VAVP) in 2000. Current legislation calls for strengthening the program in response to demand.
"We must fortify the Virginia Agricultural Vitality Program because Virginiaís farm families need all the help they can get to transition these farms and businesses to the next generation,"said state Sen. Emmett W. Hanger, Jr. "Seventy percent of the family farms in Virginia will change hands in the next 15 years. Agriculture is the leading economic engine in the commonwealth; Virginia cannot afford to just hope that all that land stays in farming."
On Dec. 18, 2001, federal, state and county officials, along with citizens of the Mason Neck region of Fairfax County (Northern Virginia) celebrated the culmination of more than two years of working together to preserve more than 800 acres of open land on the Mason Neck Peninsula. One of Fairfax Countyís commissioners, Gerry Hyland, hailed the completion of the Meadowland Farm-Lorton Land Exchange as the epitome of collaboration between government and citizens.
The land exchange was a complicated deal involving the General Services Administration, the Bureau of Land Management-Eastern States, the county, a developer and a private landowner. But it was a natural for the Mason Neck community, which already was home to 6,000 acres of protected land. The area's open space provides both recreation for Mason Neck residents and protection of wildlife habitat.
A similar campaign, to preserve farmland, green space and monitor the placement of development, is under way across the state in Bedford County, Virginia.
Members of Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation (BCLP) don't tote taunting banners, stage sit-ins, or lie down in the path of developers' bulldozers.
Instead, this fledgling group labors quietly behind the scenes, mustering support by educating others about the vital importance of preserving farmland for agricultural enterprises and open spaces for everyone to enjoy for many generations in the future.
Although it is still primarily rural, Bedford County is witnessing the highest growth rate for any Virginia county outside of the Northern Virginia-Tidewater urban crescent. Those who've lived in Bedford County -- which is sandwiched between the metropolitan areas of Roanoke and Lynchburg -- for just the past decade have seen farm after farm carved up for development.
BCLP formed late last year, according to member Annis McCabe, as a grass roots group to see how Bedford County was planning for anticipated future growth and what kind of measures would be taken to preserve agricultural land.
The organization, which held its third meeting in October, set up three committees to explore conservation easement and preservation of development rights; agricultural opportunities; and planning and zoning. With the information its members gather, BCLP will be a vocal and vital force in the development of a new comprehensive plan for Bedford County.
"Our mission statement is that we 'are dedicated to the support of responsible growth while maintaining a rural quality of life'," said Nancy Raine, another member of BCLP.
"How well growth is managed is the will of the people in an area," added McCabe. "'We don't know what that is yet," but an informal survey of members indicates rural land preservation is a clear priority for Bedford as well as the rest of Virginia.
At the group's next meeting, BCLP will hear a presentation by Mary Heinricht, Mid-Atlantic director of the American Farmland Trust. She will share key elements of the Virginia Beach Agriculture Reserve Program, and how parts of this successful program can be applied to rapidly growing Bedford County.
