Block · one region of the page, as the scanner read it. It may hold a whole story, part of one, several, or an advertisement; stitching blocks into articles is the next step. Text is supplied OCR.
Page 12 · column 3 of 7 · from the scan, no model involved
landowner would pay the full taxes on the property and the county then would “reimburse” the landowner depending on the length of the lease.
He said the Loudoun Board of Supervisors has “adopted (the proposal) in theory and principle,” adding that the county will draft an appropriate ordinance and hold the necessary public hearings. Mr. Herd said the Loudoun supervisors probably will approve the lease program by late autumn.
Mr. Dennis predicted that “discussion in the next few years” among environmentalists would focus on “how to improve agriculture and forestal districts.” He suggested the discussions probably will concentrate on extending the districts beyond the current eightyear limit.
(PEC says its nine-county service region has 271,171 acres in agricultural forestal districts. Fauquier has 78,364 acres in such districts, Loudoun has committed 78,564 acres, and Clarke and Rapphannock counties have reserved 25,286 and 10,571 respectively for the special districts.)
The districts serve to assure participating landowners that the surrounding area will remain rural for up to eight years and during that time will be spared the development pressures of the market place. For those reasons, Mr. Dennis speculated that extending the time limit would increase the number of participants. A minimum of 500 acres is needed to form a district. Participation is entirely voluntary.
To further strengthen agricultural/forestal districts, he suggested counties might tie participation in them to the land use tax break program. (The program gives an annually deferred tax break to those who put their property to agricultural use. But once the property is developed, the owner is taxed at the full rate and must pay back to the county the money deferred during the previous six years.)
For instance, property owners would be unable to take advantage of land use status unless they agreed to join an agricultural/forestal district. But Mr. Dennis acknowleged that linking the two programs might discourage some from putting property in land use if it required them to join a district and thus deny them the chance to develop the property for at least eight years.
Ultimately, the degree to which county governments are successful in preserving rural land depends largely on their willingness to vigorously promote agriculture as a business or industry as they might any incomegeneratine enterorise. he said
85.5%