|
Purchase of Development Rights
(PDR) Programs have become a popular tool for protecting land—farmland
especially--from development. Under a Purchase of Development Rights
program, a landowner voluntarily sells the development rights of
a parcel of land to a public agency, land trust, local unit of government
or state government. The right to develop or subdivide that parcel
of land is permanently relinquished, and the landowner still retains
all other rights and responsibilities associated with that land,
i.e. the right to farm that property and to post it as private property,
(as well as paying property taxes).
Across the country, several
counties, towns, and states have established PDR programs to protect
working landscapes. In Wisconsin, The Town
of Dunn, City
of LaCrosse, and the Town
of Bayfield have PDR programs to shield the character of their
landscapes from development pressure.
The American Farmland Trust
is an important source of information about PDR programs and other
farmland preservation tools and programs. They maintain an online
library of fact sheets at www.farmlandinfo.org.
The American Farmland Trust also can be reached at 202.331.7300.
|
|
