i>j Lebanon Co. seeks farm land preservation input BY SHEILA MILLER LEBANON - When a public meeting is scheduled in competiton with Friday evening shopping, movies, and going out to dinner, the fact that the auditorium in the Lebanon County Municipal Building was not filled to over-flowing is not surprising. But, in a county where ignculture plays an im lortant role, it was sur insing when less than 50 >eople turned out for an open liscussion on how to (reserve farm land. The meetmg, which was Built to take the horses. To meet today s newspeeds Alhs-Chalmers has beefed up the iron Developed new high-strength plow de signs Stronger hitches Bottoms We ve added more clearance too And there s a wide choice of beams bottoms and coulters to match your soil conditions and farming methods If you need big rugged discs weve got them Hydraulic fold-up Blades that weigh 60 to 400 lbs In 18 to 32-inch diameters So for all your implement needs see your Allis-Chalmers dea er the man with the beefed-up iron The Rising Power | A in Farming iIX ALLIS-CHALMERS I. H. BRUBAKER, INC. GRUMEUI FARM SERVICE 717-397*5179 «-"»»*••« fit Jy/ 3i/y 717-786-7318 C. J. WONSIDLER BROS. PETERMAN FARM E q(j|RMEHT, INC. Rt 309* 100 R2N TaST"' PA SSpa 215-767-7611 717-249-5338 BHM FARM EQUIPMENT, INC. SHARTL Sp C E FARM Annville, RD 1, PA SERVICE 717-867-2211 Shartlesville, PA 215-488-1025 ROY H. BUCK, INC. H Daniel Wenger, Prop Ephrata, RD 2 717-859-2441 AO.. INDUSTRIAL EQUIPMENT CJ. WONSIDLER BROS. R2 ' o R l ,s^ B s s u s n '^ D RDI, Quakertown, PA 215-536-1935 AIRVILLE FARM SERVICE 215-536-7523 Hwy 74, Airville, PA 717-862-3358 WERTZ OARAGE Lineboro, MD A. J. NOSS & SON, INC. 301-374-2672 RO2, Oley, PA B. EQUIPMENT, INC. 215987-6257 8422 Wayne Hwy CANYON IMPLEMENTS, INC. Waynesboro. PA 17268 RDI. Mansfield, PA 717-762-3193 717-724-2731 designed to gather public input on how to keep the agricultural land in Lebanon County from being buried under asphalt and shingles, was sponsored by the Lebanon County Farmers Association, the Lebanon County Conservation District, and the Extension Service. County Commissioner Ed Arnold stressed that the purpose of the meetmg was to gather the opinions and ideas of farmers on how best to tackle a complex problem. He added the suggestions from groups such as builders and realtors would also be welcome But, few of the citizens attending the meetmg had many comments. In part, this may be due to the fact the panel of five speakers, in their lengthy discussions, may have an swered the questions m their minds Earl Meyer, the assistant director of the Lebanon County Planning Depart ment, stated the concern for farm land preservation was well founded. He explained the current community plans developed by the County were based on the core-growth principle— that is, they focus on population concentrations. The present-day zoning defines high density residential areas around existing populated areas These areas are planned for sewerage and water. Outside of the high-density areas are the suburbs, or low-density residential areas. These are defined as areas of expected expansion within the next 20 years. Also around the high population density areas are the commercial and in dustrial areas, located close to highways, railroads, and existing business areas. Meyer pointed out that everything that doesn’t fit mto any of these categories is thrown mto agricultural zoning, receiving the last and least attention. He added the planning commission is looking at six alternative methods for helping to preserve Lebanon County’s farmland. First, he said, is dif ferential assessment, where the land would be taxed based on its current use rather than its market value. Secondly, the purchase and lease back alternative would allow the government to buy the farm from the land owner, and then turn around and lease it back to the farmer. Meyer discussed the next two alternatives as bemg similar. The purchase of development rights would allow the farmer to maintain the ownership of the land, but would restrict the land use for future sales. In this case, the purchase would be made by a unit of govern ment, either local, county, or state. Transferring development rights, Meyer explamed, would allow a developer to buy the development rights from a farmer in an agricultural zone and transfer the right to a higher density area. The purchase would be a floating market, Meyer added. The last two alternatives Meyer mentioned were agricultural districts and agricultural zoning. The difference between the two, he said, are one’s voluntary and the other is mandatory. Ag districts provide a tax incentive to the land owner to keep the farm for agriculture. Farmers in a particular area could band together to protect their farming rights, he said. Ag zoning helps to preserve farm land, Meyer noted, by requiring large lot zoning in agricultural areas. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 19,1980—C33 “Where the minimum lot size is 2 to 5 acres, people are financially discouraged from developing the most productive soil.” Meyer added the planning commission will be reviewing these alternatives over the next 6 months. This period of tune, he stated, is the information gathering time which he said he feels is important. Chris Allen, legislative analyst for the Pennsylvania Farmers Association, told the group the 1975 policy on land use adopted by the PFA members called for voluntary farm land preservation where farmers would get compensation throught the purchase of development rights. “We want to preserve farmland not just prune soils-if they’re not bemg used in productive far ming,” Allen concluded. Dave Schreffler, of the MUlcreek Township Plan ning Commission, gave the group a local example of farmland preservation that’s working. He explamed that the township realized their agricultural resources were valuable and needed to be preserved. Based on the farm’s soil' types, present land use, closeness to other farms, size of the farm, and the direction of development pressures m the area, the township developed agricultural districts. Screffler noted the size of the farm is looked at for the purpose of determining whether it would be an economically feasible farm. Local farmers established a minimum size of 50 acres, in contrast to the state’s minimum of 116 acres. The township developed an agricultural advisory board made up of three farmers, and a representative from either the Soil and Water Conservation District or the Extension agent, along with one supervisor and one member of the planning and zoning board for the town ship. The Agricultural Industry District in Millcreek Township is defined as being “comprised primarily of existing agricultural areas of the township and those areas where environmental conditions are most con ducive to agricultural pursuits “Agriculture shall be viewed as a specialized form of industry with unique needs such as large land area. It is a land use characterized by the production through biological and botamcal processes of saleable commodities as a result of the conjunction of raw materials (soils, seeds, plants, water, fertilizer), manpower (labor and machinery), and energy (solar and other) to produce marketable products the sale of which supports diversified local economy of the Township. “It is the purpose of this district to protect and stabilize this economic activity by preserving prune (Turn to Page C 34/
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