EDITORIAL: Preserve the Land: Scott County Needs PDR Program
By The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
Oct. 30–Congratulations to the people in Scott County who are relaunching efforts to create a farmland-preservation program there.
It’s a timely and farsighted idea that will help Georgetown and Scott County maintain their agricultural economy and character without stifling growth.
The advent of Toyota in the late 1980s, combined with restrictions on building in rural areas in Fayette County in the past decade, have spurred development in an ever-widening arc around Georgetown and into less-populated parts of the county.
People who thought they were buying homes in quiet, rural areas are bathed in the dust and noise of new development next door. Farmers struggle to keep going despite rising land prices that make it attractive to sell out and hard to buy or lease more land when they need it. Government officials worry that erosion and the resulting runoff will threaten water supplies.
In 2002, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, livestock and crops produced just under $50 million in revenues in Scott County, a 26 percent drop from 1997.
That decline will likely continue as hundreds of acres of prime soil are converted to subdivisions and shopping centers each year, while farmers try to survive on poorer, cheaper land.
More than a decade and a half ago, in 1991, the Scott County comprehensive plan acknowledged those issues and proposed creating a purchase of development rights program, but it didn’t become reality. The idea was revived in the 2006 plan with a goal to create a PDR program by next year.
PDR programs, which have been used successfully elsewhere in the country, are designed to level the economic field for farmers whose land is worth more for development than farming.
The landowner sells the development rights, but still owns the land to use for agriculture. That way, a cash-strapped farmer might be able to establish a retirement account, buy additional land, upgrade equipment or educate children without selling property for development.
Public investment in the development rights yields decades of cleaner air and water, reduced traffic congestion, fewer infrastructure expenses and a more beautiful landscape.
Programs are administered by boards that apply established criteria to decide which acreage is most valuable or endangered. Participation is purely voluntary.
Fayette is the only county in the state with a PDR program. Since PDR was passed here in 2000, almost 20,000 acres have been preserved through the program.
We hope Scott County will be quick to catch up. This is a race everyone can win.
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Copyright (c) 2007, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
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