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1. Who is eligible to participate in the PDR program? Fayette County farmers who own land in the Rural Service Area may apply to the PDR program if their land is located within the Core Agricultural and Rural Land Category (the “A-R Zone”) or the Natural Areas Category (the “A-N Zone”). The parcel of land must be at least twenty acres in size and must have at least one ten-acre development right as defined in the PDR ordinance. See Sections 26-1 and 26-8 of the PDR Ordinance. 2. How many farms, what is the total acreage and what types of farms are in the Program? 141 farms totaling over 16,286 acres are under conservation easement. The types of farms in the Program include 51 general agriculture, 79 equine and 11 'other' (sod, wooded, etc). The total includes 13 farms with donated conservation easements on 464 acres. 3. Is the PDR Program buying farms? No. The PDR program is purchasing conservation easements from willing farmers. A conservation easement is a legal agreement with the farmer, which restricts the use of the land. The farmer still owns the land and may sell the land if he or she chooses but the restrictions run with the land and apply to all future owners. 4. What is a conservation easement? A conservation easement is a legal agreement with the farmer, which restricts the use of the land. 5. Why are farmers being compensated if they retain the right to divide their farm into smaller 40-acre parcels? The Rural Land Management Plan adopted by the Lexington–Fayette County Planning Commission in April 1999 recommended taking a two-pronged approach to conserving farmland in Fayette County. See Chapter V of the Rural Service Area Land Management Plan. pp 1-12 and Chapter VI. The first step involved increasing the minimum acreage from 10 to 40 acres in the Rural Service Area, and the second step involved establishing a voluntary purchase of development rights program. In July, 1999 the Lexington Fayette County Council adopted a series of zoning ordinances, which included the 40-acre restriction. See Zoning Ordinance Text Amendment Article 8-1. The adoption of 40 acre minimum included a sunset provision which provided that if the PDR Program was not adequately funded by December, 2000 the minimum acreage required would revert back to 10 acres. |
The local farming community would not have supported this change in land use regulations without the PDR program. The PDR Ordinance was adopted by the Council in January 2000. The Rural Land Management Plan and the PDR Ordinance both clearly contemplate that farmers in Fayette County would be compensated for the loss of their 10-acre development rights if they chose to participate in the PDR program. See page V-7 of the RLMP and Sec.26-1 and 26-8 of the Ordinance. 6. Why was 40 acres chosen as the appropriate size? 40 acres is considered the minimum amount of land necessary to have a viable agricultural unit in Fayette County. The purpose of the 40-acre minimum is to conserve rural land for agricultural use. 7. How does the Rural Land Management Board decide what to offer farmers? Pursuant to Section 26-13 of the Ordinance, the Board retains appraisers to help it determine the value of each proposed conservation easement on the farms that apply to the Program. In addition, the Board retains a review appraiser to study each initial appraisal evaluation, to ensure consistency in appraisal methodology and technique and to provide a county wide perspective. The Board review appraiser works to be sure that its offers are fair to farmers and taxpayers alike. The Board’s offers are based on the combined analysis of the initial appraisal evaluations and the review appraisals. The Ordinance requires that the easement value be determined based on the difference between the unrestricted value of the land as of August 26, 1998 (the “before” value) and the land value as restricted by the easement (the “after” value). See Sec. 26-1(6). Section 26-13 of the Ordinance provides that the appraisal methodology shall be determined by the Board within certain guidelines. The Board follows those guidelines and relies upon the “before” values determined by the initial evaluations. As required by Section 26-14 (2) of the Ordinance, the Board carefully considers each landowner’s initial application, the farm’s ranking according to the point system outlined in the Ordinance, the staff’s report based on their inspection of the farm and the appraisal information before making its decisions. Back to main PDR page |