Story originally printed in the La Crosse Tribune or online at www.lacrossetribune.com
Published - Tuesday, March 06, 2007
Farmland preservation moves ahead
La Crosse County is moving slowly toward preserving farmland by buying development rights.
Monday, the county board voted to start work on a pilot program for 2008. Based on the results, the county could ask voters for permission to raise taxes to pay for it.
Supervisors generally seemed open to the idea, but some had many questions about details, which haven’t been decided yet.
Government has traditionally controlled development through zoning laws on what can be developed where. Advocates say zoning protects property values and ensures orderly growth. But some landowners feel zoning is unfair because it takes away their rights to develop their property.
Now, some local governments are turning to voluntary programs of buying development rights to farmland.
Under purchase of development rights, a government buys landowners’ rights to develop, allowing farmers to keep farming. The price often is the difference between what land would sell for to another farmer, and the price a developer would pay.
“We’ve lost a lot of farmland,” said County Planner Charlie Handy. “If you want to use a very bad pun, the horse is out of the barn. We need to get going on this soon if this is something we want to do to protect farmland.”
Handy said the county would likely buy development rights to farmland in areas away from cities and villages. The idea is to create large blocks of land where the farmers wouldn’t have to worry about houses moving in and new residents complaining about manure smells and other farming activities.
Handy said it’s cheaper in the long run to buy development rights than to build new roads and schools.
The board voted to have its Planning, Resources and Development Committee start work on a resolution to create the program. If approved in a few months by the full county board, funding would be decided in the 2008 budget.
Handy suggested starting with $250,000, which would be matched with $500,000 in state and federal grants, and other funding sources. That $750,000 could be enough to preserve 500 acres, he estimated.
If that pilot program is successful, said County Administrator Steve O’Malley, the county can have a binding referendum letting voters decide whether to raise taxes above the current limits to buy development rights.
“We should hear from the public,” said Supervisor Charles Spiker.
Reid Magney can be reached at (608) 791-8211 or rmagney@lacrossetribune.com.
All stories copyright 2000 - 2006 La Crosse Tribune and other attributed sources.