Open Space and Agricultural Preservation Program on the Land Conservation Assistance Network

Open Space and Agricultural Preservation Program
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last updated: November 2021

The program is a strictly voluntary, city-wide competitive program in which the City purchases development rights from willing landowners in exchange for a preservation easement on their property. The landowner receives fair market value for the development rights of the land, but still retains ownership as well as the ability to have a home on the land and to use the land for agricultural or open space purposes.

Who qualifies?
In order for land to qualify for the program, it must meet the following criteria:

The property must be no less than 10 acres in area and be used for agricultural lands. Smaller properties may be submitted as a batch of contiguous parcels in order to meet the minimum area requirements as stated above.
The property must not contain any land already required to be reserved or set aside for open space, recreation, preservation or similar purposes by any City ordinance, regulation or policy, including requirements imposed under a conditional use permit, conditional rezoning, Planned Unit Development zoning, subdivision or site plan approval, variance, or other action by the City Council, the Planning Commission, the Board of Zoning Appeals, or other authorized entity.
No uses, buildings or structures, other than those expressly permitted under the preservation easements, are allowed to be conducted or located on the property.
In order to be eligible for preservation of agricultural lands, no portion of the agricultural lands may contain any of the following soil types: Mixed Alluvial Land; Mucky Peat; Mucky Peat, shallow over loams; Mucky Peat, shallow over sands; and Tidal Marsh. These limitations on soil types do not apply to open space preservation or to property located wholly or partially in the Fentress Airfield Overlay District, as established by the City Zoning Ordinance. Soil types are determined on the basis of the most current U.S. Department of Agriculture soil survey.

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REMINDER: This listing is a free service of LandCAN.
Open Space and Agricultural Preservation Program is not employed by or affiliated with the Land Conservation Assistance Network, and the Network does not certify or guarantee their services. The reader must perform their own due diligence and use their own judgment in the selection of any professional.