Shrewsbury Township Conservation Fund

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Open Space

 (Prime Farmland and sensitive environmental areas)

 

Why we should conserve it. Why you should help.

 

Here’s an urban myth: Residential housing helps the township’s tax base. Study after study finds just the opposite. The latest, done specifically for Shrewsbury Township by the South Central Assembly for Effective Governance and the American Farmland Trust, brings the lesson home for all of us.

 

 

The study found that in Shrewsbury Township fully 96.3 percent of the township’s expenditures went towards services for residential land use, compared with only 3.1 percent for commercial/ industrial uses and .6 percent for farm, forest, and open land.

The myth weakens further when adding the school district to the mix. Every new student costs the district more than $7500/year. Before Southern converted from nuisance to earned income tax, each household could be counted on for about $4800 in taxes on average. Guess who makes up the deficit.

 

Pop! The myth just disappeared.

 

Before we give you the idea we’re against residential development, let me hasten to say that our purpose is not to claim that one land use is better than another, but instead to show the need for a proper mix of such uses. When a community becomes too heavy in one type of development, especially residential development, the costs are high and shared by all.

 

Between 1992 and 1997, some 60,000 acres (4%) of the productive farmland in south central Pennsylvania was converted other uses, according to the National Agricultural Statistics Service. In York County, from 1969 to 1997, we lost 1,280 individual farms (some to consolidation) and more importantly, over 64,000 acres of farmland. The percentage of York County land in agricultural plummeted from 56.2% to 45.1% in those years and is still falling at a rate that alarms many people.

 

The population of York County has just about doubled since 1950. Everybody has to have a place to live, don’t they? Yes, but they also have to eat and they have to live and nature adds to quality of life. We still have plenty of land available that isn’t prime farmland. Ok, but farmlands belong to someone also. Don’t they have the right to use it in any way they see fit? Yes, up to a point. Sometimes the public good has to be weighed on the same balance as property rights. The preservation of prime farmland and key open space is a widely shared goal in Pennsylvania.

 

 

These open spaces are not lands just waiting for a better use;
they are already serving their best purpose.

 

This land has been here for a very long time and perhaps we take it for granted, expect that it will always be there for us to enjoy. However, statistics belie that notion. Every year, in York County alone, we irretrievably lose open space to bastions of brick and mortar. Every year people find out that the corn field next to them or that woodland they drive by everyday was just awaiting the bulldozers’ arrival.

 

 

All our lands are part of the environment we share with one another. Even the smallest lot affects us all in some way. The environmental degradation of York County is a problem for all of us. The increased erosion and sedimentation, contamination of surface and ground waters (and their disappearance), increase in nitrous oxides and loss of plant and animal habitat are occurring because so many of us live here. All of these difficulties are less than they would be because our open spaces clean the air, recharge and protect our water supply, protect us from the worst ravages of wind and noise, and generally make life safer and healthier.

 

Yet, the Board of Supervisors of Shrewsbury Township has no intention of preserving open space in the township at the expense of its owners. They are just completing a new zoning ordinance that strengthens the integrity of the Agricultural Preservation District, recognizes the Growth Boundary Line created with the boroughs in the Joint Comprehensive Plan of 2000, creates more opportunities for farmers to operate successfully, but also produces more opportunities to cash in their development rights (essentially the difference between what the land is worth in agriculture and what it might be worth if developed with buildings).

 

The next step is the creation of the Shrewsbury Township Land Conservancy. The Shrewsbury Township Board of Supervisors, dedicated in equal measure to property rights and farmland preservation, thereby establishes a means by which to acquire development rights and retire them without additional construction. Through a Conservancy, the supervisors could compensate landowners for the nonagricultural development value of their land, while preserving the land as agricultural and open space (which is predominantly conservation land), as well as enhancing the tax structure of our community.

 

The Conservancy would work with existing preservation programs, particularly the York County Agricultural Land Preservation Board and the York County Farm and Natural Lands Trust. Together we can inform landowners of the Conservancy and county’s land preservation tools and cooperate to provide the landowner with every option or combination of options available.

                                   

The Conservancy, operated by existing employees and volunteers, maintains records and maps showing status of parcels, tracks changes as development rights are sold or donated, monitors the success of the new zoning ordinance and recommends changes, and maintains and publishes a register of development rights for sale.

 

Why is this important to you, a citizen of Shrewsbury Township?

Our open spaces are not free. They are not state forests or county parks, they are owned by citizens just like you. Just as you have the right to sell your property for top dollar, so do they. The difference is that the majority of their land contains no buildings. They are faced with a two-tiered system: the sales price for their land is lower if sold for agriculture than it would be if sold to build upon.

 

 

Open spaces increase property values, attract businesses and travelers, save infrastructure and public service costs, reduce health care costs and increase recreation opportunities, and help us stay physically and mentally fitter. 

 

 

The township will be working closely with the Farm & Natural Lands Trust, which also works with the county’s Agricultural Preservation Board. The Farm & Natural Lands Trust is a private non-profit member-supported 501 (c) (3) land preservation organization in York County, Pennsylvania. The Trust works with landowners to place a conservation easement on their property. An easement is a permanent, recorded deed restriction, which preserves the character of the property by restricting further development.  Easements can be used to protect lands for agricultural, open space, historical, scenic, recreational or educational purposes. Ownership may be transferred but the easement restrictions stay in place. 

 

For more information, go to the Trust’s Website, http://www.farmtrust.org  or call them at 843-4411.

 

Some landowners may find that preserving part of the property with the county program and part of the property with the Trust will improve their score with the county program and increase the dollars they retain after taxes

 

The York County Agricultural Land Preservation Board (commonly referred to as the “County Program”) pays the landowner for their development rights.   They have an application process and a ranking system because funds are limited and will not allow them to satisfy all applicants.  However, certain restrictions apply and we encourage you to call them to learn more about their program.  Their telephone number is 840-7400.

 

Some folks will value the Sunday drive in the country. Some will want to keep the fresh produce they can find at the roadside stands throughout the township. Others will opt to pay a little bit more to the township rather than a lot more to the school district. Historians will want to preserve our heritage. Savvy citizens will do it to keep the value of their own land high. Still others will do it simply out of civic pride.

 

Whatever your reason, if the township asks for your help, please say, yes.