Farmland/ Open Space Preservation

During the past few months there have been many discussions regarding the loss of farmland and open space across the Eastern Panhandle and several other areas of the State. Locally, members of the Land Trust of the Eastern Panhandle and the three county farmland protection boards have been quietly meeting, discussing, debating and soliciting ideas regarding the status of on-going efforts to preserve some farmland and open space.

Undoubtedly, the Voluntary Farmland Protection Act was a giant leap forward in addressing the loss of farmland/open space in West Virginia. However, the legislation suffered one "draw back" – the lack of a permanent and significant funding mechanism.

On February 5 a strong step was taken in the WV Senate to advance the need for farmland and open space preservation. Senator Unger has introduced three pieces of legislation in that regard:

* SB 492 (Unger, Helmick, Ross) authorizes the county commission of growth counties to establish a program for the transfer of development rights (TDR). This legislation mirrors HB 4270 which was introduced 6 days ago by the Morgantown area Delegates Beach, Williams, Stemple and Fleischauer.

* SB 493 allows the use of the existing hotel-motel tax for farmland preservation as defined by the Voluntary Farmland Protection Act. This legislation is sponsored by Unger and has an amazing 17 co-sponsors. That’s right ... over 50% of the WV Senate supports this concept!!

* SB 498 (Unger, Snyder) mirrors HB 4331, which was introduced by Doyle and Manuel 6 days ago. SB 498 (HB 4331) represents the best funding mechanism for farmland/open space of the two concepts. It allows the county to assess an additional property transfer tax to fund county farmland protection programs. It has some minor flaws, however, but efforts are under way to address them.