A2O-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 13, 1990
BY VAL VAN TASSEL
Berks Co. Correspondent
Lcesport (Berks Co.) The
Berks County Agricultural Land
Preservation Board is looking for
more land owners interested in
selling their conservation ease
ments. According to land preser
vation specialist Bernard Riley,
farmers still have plenty of oppor
tunity to have their casements pur
chased by the board.
“We had seven applications in
our first round and we arc working
to process them now. The next
round of applicauons must be in
my olficc by January 31.”
There is still plenty of money
left to purchase developmental
rights on appropriate pieces of
property. “We have nearly three
million dollars available for pur
chasing casements this year.
Either we spend it this year or we
lose it,” Riley explained.
Riley and Extension Agent
Clyde Myers explained the appli
cation process at a recent public
meeting. “The process is a little
complicated, but Bcmie is avail
able to help landowners fill out
their applications,” Myers stated.
Actually the preliminary appli
cation due on the 31st could be
filled out while standing at the
counter of the cooperative exten
sion olficc. The only information
that may give larmcrs difficulty
involves agriculture security
areas “The primary criteria to be
considered lor purchase of conser
vation easements is being in an
officially recorded agricultural
security area,” Riley stated.
There arc 16 officially recorded
ag security areas in Berks County
including Bethel, Colebrookdale,
Douglas, Greenwich, Jefferson,
Longswamp, Maidencreek, Maxa
tawny, Oley, Penn Richmond,
Tulpehockcn, Upper Bern,
Washington, Heidelburg, and
Windsor. “There are five other
areas that have been approved by
the township supervisor but
haven’t been officially recorded
including Perry, Hereford Amity,
Tilden and Upper Tulpehockcn
with close to 13,000 acres
involved in these areas,” Riley
added. There is over 48,000 acres
already m ag security areas in
Berks County Riley stressed that
while a farmer’s township may
have an ag security area the farmer
must be signed up in the area and
it must be officially recorded in
order to be considered for the
program
Riley will he available to help
larmcrs with the second part of the
application, the Farmland Evalua
tion and Sue Assessment. The
FLESA will take approximately
an hour and a half for the land
owner to complete with Riley’s
help. “Much ol the application is
work I have to do and the farmer
doesn’t need to be present,” Riley
explained
According to application the
Land Evaluation portion is based
on the soil, survey of Berks Coun
ty USDA Soil Conservation ser
vice, which was completed in Sep
tember 6, 1970. The score on this
portion of the application is based
on the soils corn producing
capacity.
The site assessment involves 19
factors related to the value of the
farm for preservation. It evaluates
the chances that the land is ripe for
development with such questions
as the distance from public water,
sewer, and boroughs. It favors lar
ger portions of agricultural land in
areas zoned for agricultural pre
servation. It also considers the
amount of money being generated
on the parcel.
Berks County Looks For Easement Applications
“The purpose of the site evalua
tion is to identify three aspects of
the property. We need to know the
character of the area. We want to
know what is around you. If there
is development on three sides of
your farm we can’t stave off the
fourth side. It’s very attractive to
have your property close to other
land in ag security areas. We also
need to know the developmental
pressure within a few miles of
where you are. Finally we want to
know the character of your farm.
What you are producing and how
much is important to determining
which property should be pur
chased,” Dr. Robert Zicgcnfus, a
professor of geography at Kutz
lown University, explained.
Farmers interested in the con
servation easement program have
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a simple set of steps to follow to
get involved in the process. “Start
by calling Bernie Riley at
378-1327 then stop into the office
and fill out the preliminary appli
cation. Then arrange with Bemie
to complete the application. H6 J s
happy to help you; in fact, that’s
one of the reasons we hired him.
After that it’s up to Bcmie and the
board to evaluate the property,”
Myers said.
“First, Bemic will check to see
that the property meets the mini
mum criteria set down by the state
board. It must be in an ag security
area. It must be part of a farm
operation capable of generating
$25,000 in income and product
sales must be more than $lO,OOO.
Finally more than 50% of the land
must be in crop, grazing or pasture
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area. The production yield has to
be at least equal to the county
average. Fifty percent of the soils
have to be in classes I through IV.
Finally the parcel must meet the
standards addressed by the county
ranking system.”
Riley comes up with a point
value for each application based
one-third on the land evaluation
and two-third’s on site assess
ment. If a piece of properly ranks
highly in the evaluation process,
the next step is an appraisal. Dr.
Ziegenfus, explained the appraisal
process. “If your property is
selected, you will be asked to pay
$5OO for an appraisal. This money
will be refunded if your property
is selected for conservation ease
ment purchase and you electo to
sell your easements to us. If the
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board decides that they don’t wish
to purchase the easements, we will
also refund your money. If we
offer to purchase your easements,
but you decide not to participate in
the program then the money will
not be refunded. Regardless of
what happens you have an apprai
sal worth some where between
$1,200 and $1,500 for $5OO. After
the appraisal we will enter the
final selection process,” Ziegenfus
said.
The final selection will involve
six assumptions. “The higher the
FLESA, the higher the ranking.
The smaller number of dollars
required to purchase the conserva
tion easements the higher the
ranking. The larger the number of
acres with ag restrictions the high-