Land conservancy decisions

[John_Mc]

I would talk to your kids and see what they want you to do. After all you are basically holding it for them at this point.

A good point. When my parents were getting ready to move off of the family farm in Ohio years ago, the first asked if any of the kids were interested in living there. All of us had long since moved away, and none of us had any intention of moving back. We all loved the place and hated the idea that it might be carved up into small lots with a bunch of cheaply built cookie-cutter houses springing up on it (something that had happened to some prime farmland not far from us). We all agreed on conserving the farm. At that time, there was no money behind conserving farmland in the area, so the easement was donated. They then sold the farm - to a buyer who it turned out was quite happy to own conserved land.

However, I did find the approach of one old timer who was conserving his land interesting: A friend asked "If you are conserving your land and can't subdivide it, how will you split it up fairly between your three kids?"

His response was "I don't think of my land as something to be divided among my children. I think of it as my fourth child. I want to provide for its care just as I want to provide for my other children."

 

[dodge man]

As a land surveyor I have done boundary surveys for these a couple times over the years. The two I remember were both heavily wooded and had no real value except for recreation. The surveys were to carve out a piece where a house was so it wasn’t 8n the easement.

 

[deezler]

Yeah down here in Washtenaw county, farmers get PAID very well just to keep farming as usual. The conservation easements surely make some sense, but I'm not always thrilled with our taxpayer dollars (a "greenbelt" millage we all voted approvingly for) being used to pay farmers out in the sticks just to keep doing what they've always done, when no public access to the property is allowed. I voted for the greenbelt millage because I wanted more nature preserves and parkland, not rich famers (ok, ok, I know it can be tough to keep farming near urban areas these days when your township thinks your property is worth millions and taxes you accordingly). In the long run most of these conservation easements will be a good idea, to prevent urban sprawl, save some local farmers, and animal habitats.

 

[dodge man]

There are conservation easements paid for by the government as part of farm programs. There are others that are not government control and you get no money other than maybe a tax break. The Nature Conservancy is one I’m aware of. This is for people that are looking to protect the land and are not after money.

 

[TheMan419]

You might check with a real estate lawyer; it would be highly unusual for a restriction in a deed or contract to pass to the next owner in perpetuity. I suspect the "no development" restriction would be voluntary, enforced by contract, for a limited time. This is an old common law restriction, called "The Rule Against Perpetuities", which was implemented to keep land from being under control of one family forever. Just a thought.

Rule against perpetuities - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Easements in fact do pass down the line of title. Things like your power lines are on an easement. You don't have to renegotiate them each time property changes hands.

The RAP simply does not apply, nor does the Rule in Shelly's Case.

 

[newbury]

I've seen to many of these get sucked up by highway development or need for a new mall to trust them.
When I first moved to Virginia there was an older farm house on several acres being sold, a good fixer upper and just what I wanted. But it had "restrictions" and the real estate agents said there was no way to get around them.
A year or so later a guy who had political connections bought it and it was immediately and quietly "rezoned", with pieces being sold off for high prices.