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Anne Beals, owner of Oakley Farm in Spotsylvania, supports farmland preservation. She's keenly interested in the county's proposal to let major landowners sell their development rights.
Anne Beals owns Oakley Farm in Spotsylvania, where she raises beef cattle. Under a Purchase of Development Rights program, landowners with 100 acres or more would be able to sell development rights to the county, the state or preservationists. |
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Anne Beals has spent 30 years loving a spread of land in western Spotsylvania.
Sitting behind her home on the 3,800-acre Oakley Farm, she recalled how future husband George Beals lured her from college in Vermont to the area in 1974.
"He said, 'You know, you really ought to come take a look at this farm my family owns in Virginia,'" she said. "I came down and looked, and never left."
Because of her deep affection for the land, Beals is very interested in a new conservation program the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors is considering.
Under the Purchase of Development Rights program, landowners could get cash and lower tax bills in return for not turning property over for subdivisions and strip malls. They could continue to farm their land or for a variety of passive activities.
George Beals died in 2000, leaving Anne to manage the farm and its cattle operation.
She and her extended family could make a lot of money selling their farm to developers.
But like her late husband, Anne is a committed preservationist. Her adult children have staged several outdoor concerts at the farm as an alternate source of income to help preserve the land.
The proposed PDR program would give them another option.
"You don't know what's going to happen in the future," Beals said, folding her hands. "To have a tool like this would be a great advantage to us and the county."
Spotsylvania planning commissioners tentatively approved a PDR program earlier this month. Supervisors will likely approve the program, as well, but must figure out a way to pay for it.
Supervisors Chairman Bob Hagan sees PDR as a key to protecting Spotsylvania's rolling green hillsides.
"It will provide the opportunity to help keep our county looking the way that we want it to--with a rural feel, some greenery," he said. "It's part of what attracted all of us to live here."
Supervisor T.C. Waddy said he favors such a program as long as it doesn't increase property taxes.
"I wouldn't be in favor of taxing the taxpayers in order to fund a program like this," he said. "I think your taxpayers--there's enough burden on them now.
"A lot of people in the county can't afford any more taxes," Waddy said. "They're living on fixed incomes. They're barely making ends meet now."
Hagan predicted the program--if not a funding mechanism--will be in place by the end of the year.
The draft PDR plan splits eligible land into two categories.
Category I will encompass tracts of 100 acres or more that are dedicated for farming and other agricultural activities.
Category II will take in land tracts or homes that "exhibit natural, scenic or historic resources."
A landowner who chooses to enter the voluntary program could sell the property development rights to the county, state government and/or a private conservation organization.
A perpetual conservation easement would then be placed on the property. If the owner eventually sells the land, the easement prevents the buyer from developing it.
Despite the uncertainty over a funding source, Planning Director Ric Goss argues supervisors shouldn't let money questions hamstring creation of the PDR program.
"To me, I think it's important to get the ordinance through first," he said. "I really believe once you have it on the books, it's like, 'Now let's talk about how the [program and money] mix.' If you mix them now, neither one of them moves forward."
Other Virginia localities--including Virginia Beach and Albemarle and Fauquier counties--have started similar programs.
Stafford County supervisors have considered the idea, as well.
About a year ago, the Stafford board heard a presentation on the PDR program at Virginia Beach.
Board Chairman Jack Cavalier said the idea hasn't gone any further in Stafford, but that it isn't dead.
"We have received information, and the Planning Department has studied it but have not acted on it," he said.
The Virginia Beach City Council laid the groundwork for its Agricultural Reserve program when it revamped its comprehensive land-use plan in 1995.
Melvin Atkinson, the city's rural issues point man, noted that agriculture is the third-largest industry in Virginia Beach. City council members were dismayed, he recalls, by the sprawl that was engulfing local farmland.
"So what we wanted to do, is just like we do with other businesses, we wanted to enhance this part of our economy," he said. "By putting this program in place and allowing landowners to protect their land without selling it to developers, we are protecting the agriculture sector of our economy."
More than 6,800 acres of farmland have been preserved since the program's first purchase in 1997.
To fund the program, the City Council added a special levy of 1.5 cents per $100 of value to all real-estate taxes. Soaring property values have allowed the council to cut the levy to 1 cent per $100 of value, and it generates nearly $3.5 million in revenue annually.
Atkinson argues that by slowing development, the program actually saves money for Virginia Beach taxpayers.
"We're not having to build new schools, new roads, new firehouses--all of the costs associated with urban development," he said. "We're offsetting those costs for the entire city, so everybody helps fund the program. It's a windfall, really, for the entire city."
Aside from preserving Virginia Beach farmland, Atkinson says the program helps protect natural areas--a big draw for "eco-tourists."
He suggests a PDR program could bolster the number of visitors to Spotsylvania's Civil War battlefields.
"You can have a Civil War battlefield, but if it's surrounded by urban development, you're probably not going to have the same kind of tourist draw as you would if it's surrounded by a more rural landscape," he said.
Staff reporter Ruth Finch contributed to this story.
To reach GEORGE WHITEHURST: 540/374-5438 gwhitehurst@freelancestar.com
