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Easements
From Page A1
this is the Virginia Outdoor Foundation. The owner. Rice said, does not loose any rights at the hands of this agreement. The easement, however, “provides permanent protection for the land.” he said.
This is important for many reasons. Rice said it helps in “maintaining the rural character and supporting agriculture. If you're going to maintain agriculture in your county you have to preserve open space."
Some may wonder why land easements are important in areas where zoning laws are already strict. Rice explained that such laws are open to change. Easements are not. Once land is put into an easement it can never be sliced into a subdivision.
In Rappahannock County a minimum of 50 acres is required for an easement. Anything less then 100 acres will remain in one parcel for perpetuity. Anything above this can be divided along 100acre increments.
For example if 500 acres are placed into easement, when the owner decides to sell the land it can be cut into five parcels, still leaving it well above the acreage in most subdivisions.
The idea of easements, Rice said, is growing in popularity in the county. Last year Rappahannock had the fifth highest donation rate of the nine counties serviced by the PEC, with 1,651 acres donated. This is only a small portion of the total 14,595 acres in the county in easement at the end of the 2002 fiscal year.
Many people are donating lands, Rice said. “They love their land. They have a connection to their land and they can’t stomach the idea of the land being subdivided. They love the rural character of the
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