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By Rob Sherwood
Rappahannock News Writer
Ever wonder about the future of our beautiful county? Can’t wait for its first stop light? Its first suburban subdivision? Its first strip mall?
Or maybe you’d like to see it stay rural: a county of farm and forest, of historic hamlets, of scenic panoramas.
If you are a landowner in Rappahannock, then you can do a lot to influence either scenario—what you do with your land is the future of our county.
Beginning in the mid-1970s and growing at a more rapid rate in the past decade, more and more county residents are seeing the advantages of putting their land into what is called conservation or scenic easements, a legal arrangement with the state of Virginia that protects the land in perpetuity. These agreements are called by several synonymous terms -conservation, scenic, or preservation easements.
This arrangement allows agricultural uses and home businesses, but not large scale industrial or commercial enterprises on the land. Once land is in conservation easement it cannot be altered by outside forces - such as a power line, cell tower, public road, or any eminent domain construction.
*5 So far 8.6 percent of the land in Rappahannock County is “set aside” ts* protected by conservation easements - a total of almost 12,000 acres. , s But, as Mr. Bob Dennis, past president of the Piedmont Environmental Council and current president of the Rappahannock County Conservation Alliance, explained at his talk at the county library on Friday, May 11 JJiere are many myths about putting ytrar land into scenic easement: <'■ Myth #1: That you need a lot of i^tld to do it.
Fact: The smallest easement in bur county is only one-half acre, in the town of Washington. ♦ V Myth # 2: That it limits what a twpperty owner can do on his own fend. . *. Fact: A landowner can continue to pm a farm, or a family business (tyhich qualifies), or cut timber just as before. Personal businesses could include having a carpentry shop or a Red and breakfast establishment. “The only real limit,” explained Dennis, “ is that you can’t build a factory or a housing subdivision.” -> Myth # 3: That once a piece of fend is in conservation easement it $ap’t be sold. •» Fact: Lands in conservation easefeent are sold all the time; in fact
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