C26—Lancaster Fannins, Saturday, January 26,1980
Four ag preservation plans
BY CURT HAULER
CAMP HILL Provisions
of Amos Funk’s proposal to
preserve farm land by deed
restrictions drew cautious
praise and some fire at a
meeting of the Pennsylvania
Council of Farm
Organizations.
Ken Greider, Executive
Director of the State
Association of Township
Supervisors said “with a
couple of ammendments we
could support H 81983.”
That bill would allow
municipalities to establish
ag districts and would en
courage placing deed
restrictions on farm
property to ensure it would
stay in agriculture forever.
But State Representative
Noah Wenger, vice chair
man of the House
Agriculture Committee said
he was opposed to any bill
which was not voluntary.
Funk, Greider and Wenger
appeared on a panel
discussion of preservation of
ag land. They were joined by
Deputy Pennsylvania
Secretary of Agriculture
Chet Heim.
Funk said he felt everyone
farmers, township
supervisors, legislators, the
favored
Governor
preserving ag land.
“If everyone is m favor of
preserving agricultural
land, why then is not more
happening’” he asked.
“The problem with
Pennsylvania’s land use
efforts to date, as I see it, is
the benefits go to everyone in
the state,” Funk said.
He said he had been
surprised and shocked when
told by several friends that a
number of individuals who
serve on the House
Agriculture Committee do
not want anything to do with
land use legislation because
it is too controversial.
“It also has been said if
you scratch a farmer deep
enough you will discover a
land speculator,” he said,
noting farmers would like to
have their cake and eat it
too
Funk called for broad land
use legislation to fit the
needs of counties where
urbanizing pressures are not
great to those where
presures are very great.
Greider, representing the
Township Supervisors,
pointed out that between 500
and 600 townships of 1458 in
the state have zonmg laws of
any type
He said he felt no bill
would be able to fully
guarantee that a given piece
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weighed by Council members
Noah Wenger, vice chairman of the House Agriculture Committee told
members of the Council of Farm Organizations he could not support any land
preservation plan that was not voluntary. He was joined on the panel by Chet
Heim, Kenneth Greider, and Amos Funk.
of land would not be
developed.
He said a bill like HB 1983
could be supported by his
organization.
But he added the Super
visors probably would not
support any bill which gave
a special interest group,
including farmers, special
treatment.
Chet Heim, commenting
that he is a member of the
Thornburgh administration,
talked the party line on land
use preservation.
He repeated the statement
that any comprehensive land
use plan must emphasize the
fanner and the family farm.
He said any such bill would
have to reduce the farmer’s
tax and allow him to realize
some of the development
potential of his land
Heim said the ad
ministration would support
local control and not state
dictation of land use policy.
He said the Administration
looked for legislation to
compensate the fanner for
any loss of property. He also
said they wished to avoid the
use of eminent domain or
taking of prime farm land
While a member of the
Republican party, Noah
Wenger had some more
specific ideas to offer on his
own.
“I favor voluntary ag
districts with individual sale
of property rights
“I stick with the voluntary
approach since property
rights are one of man’s basic
rights,” Wenger said
He said he supported the
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idea of using local money to
solve local problems.
“But I don’t want land use
planning out of the hands of
the land owner and into the
hands of the planner
professional planner or not,”
he said.
“That would be erosion of
our basic constitutional
rights,” Wenger said.
He said he saw land
preservation as a priority
issue. But he added he was
not about to tell young people
they could not build a home
m the area or tell industry it
could not expand.
He cited Hershey Medical
Center as one case where
land went out of farming.
“But it was not bad,” he
added.
Wenger said he felt the
biggest problem with far
mland preservation was
losing the land upon the
death of the farm’s owner.
He said the property may
be secure in farming until
the owner dies and then the
tax bite hurts, forcing heirs
to sell off land and perhaps
abandon farming altogether
He said he is supporting
HB 1176 which is appraising
land on its current use and
not on its potential value for
other reasons.
Wenger spoke favorably of
HB 1608, the Capitol Stock
Tax exemption legislation.
He said incorporation is a
good way to pass the family
farm from generation to
generation
While the stock tax makes
this prohibitive at present,
1608 would exempt a farmer
from the tax provisions
He also said amendments
to Act 319 and SB 296,
recently signed mto 4 law,
were valuable aids to
preservation of farms
The purpose of the
discussion was to share
ideas with members of the
Pennsylvania State Council
of Farm Organizations
Members of the group are
drawn from the leaders of all
farm groups in the state
The land preservation
session was one of several
seminars held during the
Organization’s annual
meeting Monday.
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