By LYT WOOD

By LYT WOOD

Kappahannock New* apecial writer

Five years ago, a 98-acre tract near the Rappahannock-Fauquier County line was offered for sale.

A local couple looked at the property and decided to purchase it. They liked the pre-Civil War house] the rolling pasture land and the productive hardwood forest.

But they soon discov^fed that. the property they were buying was subject to some unusual restrictions.

In their own words, “When we bought the property, we inherited a scenic easement.” A former owner had granted the easement to a state agency.

The couple now owns the property, but some traditional rights of ownership are prohibited. Conspicuous commercial advertising, subdivision into small parcels, alteration of topography, and building new homes are activities that are not permitted under terms of easement.

While the easement terms were not in conflict with their plans for the property, they were a cause for concern. This easement, they reasoned, would reduced mortgage values, marketability of the land, and options for its development.

Easement donations, then, are not made without present costs and future sacrifices. But they can be initiated and monitored at little cost to the public, and, conservationists say, they can effectively preserve open space values without sacrificing private ownership. A single scenic easement can protect several benefits such as wildlife habitat, war. ter quality, scenery, and productivity of farm and forest lands.

Easements are not a new idea. Almost every, tract of land — whether publicly or privately owned — is subject to some form of easement which may provide for such things as rights—of—way and utility maintenance.

But widespread use of “scenic easements” as a conservation tool is a recent occurrence. The Virginia Outdoors Foundation, the state agency responsible for administering Virgini’s easement program, was

Martz covers

1986 session

of Assembly