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Servais, a Vernon County Board supervisor, organized a trip with land-use officials from Vernon and La Crosse counties to the East Coast to look into what are known as “purchasing development rights” programs.
After returning, Servais and La Crosse County Planner Charley Handy met in January with area bankers, landowners, developers, land-use planners, nonprofit groups and government officials to discuss how these programs work.
“A number of people went on this trip, and we thought we should come back here and get something going,” Servais said. “It is a program that moves very slowly.”
Servais said some of the areas they visited on their trip in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York had been working on the program for 25 to 30 years.
Although the programs vary slightly from region to region, the basic premise is to pay land owners for development rights, giving those who are feeling pressure to develop another alternative. Typically, landowners are paid the difference between the agricultural value of the land and the development value of the land.
George Howe, conservation director with the Mississippi Valley Conservancy, said his organization has successfully purchased recreation and conservation rights of a number
of properties in the region. Howe said agreements used to purchase the rights can be crafted to include specific items that landowners want to protect.
Handy said the process usually begins by identifying areas that are prime farmland based on soil type and or topography. From there the issue is often public support and funding, Handy said.
Handy and Servais said they would like to see a pilot project started in this area funded with private money to build support, with the hope that once the program is proven successful, more public money can be used.
State Sen. Dan Kapanke, R-La Crosse, said the program is more likely to get state funding if there is a grassroots effort like the one Handy and Servais are starting. Kapanke said the program has to be flexible enough to meet the needs and concerns of landowners.
Servais tentatively scheduled another meeting for March 14.
Tim Hundt is a reporter with the Vernon County Broadcaster.
