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Those who care must take steps to safeguard the countryside and the rural way of life, Mr. Whitehouse continued. “We at PEC think easements are the best preservation tool.” Landowners who enter into this voluntary contractual arrangement give up a certain amount of value when they cede their development rights to the state, but in return, they derive “very real tax benefits” for themselves and thenheirs, PEC’s chairman said.
Tyson Van Auken, director of the Virginia Outdoors Foundation which administers the Commonwealth’s conservation easement program, explained that the granting of an easement prohibits in perpetuity commercial, industrial and residential development. The foundation likes to see parcels of at least 100 acres proposed for a conservation easement, but there are no absolute conditions which must be met with every easement, he emphasized. “Special circumstances may be written into a contract to satisfy family or legal concerns. It’s a give-andtake between the donor and the foundation.”
As to benefits to the landowner, he explained that an easement is considered a charitable contribution and accordingly its value is deductible from state and federal income tax. Once an easement is granted, the land has no development potential, so as development occurs on
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