The Barry County Farmland Preservation Ordinance, as amended, is meant to preserve agricultural lands by an easement; owners selling the developmental rights to their farm land in exchange for insuring the land would be used only for agriculture in perpetuity.
The Barry County Open Space Preservation Ordinance, as amended, is meant to protect open space land by the same type of easements, to preserve the rural character and scenic attributes of the county and its environmental benefits in perpetuity.
The Barry County Board of Commissioners Tuesday approved the amendments in both programs by a 5-2 vote with Commissioners Vivian Conner and Jon Smelker voting “no.” Commissioners Ben Geiger, David Jackson, Dan Parker, Heather Wing and Howard “Hoot” Gibson voted “yes.”
In an earlier meeting, Conner said the seven member board is too heavily weighted with those with agriculture interests, and Smelker wouldn’t support it because the commissioner serving on the board does not have a vote.
Questions unanswered are an estimated cost to the county of the program, because it is not known how many county farms or open spaces would qualify and also where the county would find the funding.
In the voluntary program, state certified assessors determine the value of agricultural property when used for agricultural and the value of the property if sold for development. Property owners are paid the difference between the values and guarantee that the land would remain in agriculture forever, Stacy Byers, consultant with Sheridan Land Consulting said in a special commission meeting on the subject on April 11.
Applicants for easements are scored and ranked by points with several criteria, with the top-scoring land owners given appraisals, insuring the best agriculture land is preserved. The owner keeps all personal property rights and can sell the land, but it would always have to stay in agriculture, she said.
Various land preservation plans have been around since the 1970s, and accelerated with a development surge of the 1980s and 1990s. The major stumbling block for the present plan is the lack of funds to pay for the development rights. Byers said there are several possibilities to obtain funding for easements; the federal and state government, townships, landowners and the county.
The open space ordinance mirrors the farm preservation component, with more emphasis on the environment, and is run by the same board. There is working and non-working land; any not working, not producing a product, is open space. “It needs to have environmental value. It has to warrant an easement,” Byers said.
The name of the board is also changed from the Agriculture Promotion Board to the Barry County Conservation Easement Board.
