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By PEKAY PETTUS THE SCENIC easement program in northern Virginia has received another boost—this time from Phil and Phyllis Irwin, who have granted an open space easement on their 40-acre farm near Flint Hill in Rappahannock County. The use of scenic easements as a means to protect rural land from development pressures has been gaining favor throughout Virginia in recent years. Just recently, several landowners along the road between The Plains and Middleburg in Fauquier County placed several hundred acres in open space easements. By doing so, they hope to create a “de facto scenic highway."
The easements are legal documents which insure that the properties on which they are placed will never be developed for commercial or residential use, but will remain permanently in agricultural production as open space or forest land. The property owners grant such an easement to a “recipient agency," which in the Irwin's case is the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. The recipient agency is responsible for enforcing the terms of theeasement. If a subsequent owner were to violate the easement and try to develop the property, the recipient agency could take him to court.
Phil Irwin noted that easements can be drawn up to fit specific needs of each applicant. He and his wife have reserved the right to subdivide one five-acre piece from the main parcel.
“WE DID that just to leave us an "option," he said. “The time might come when we no longer want to live in this four-story house. Or perhaps my wife might need to sell after my death. But," he continued, “we have assured that the rest of the farm, the most scenic and productive areas.
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