Tension between development, green space preservation walks a fine line - St. Louis Business Journal:

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The state Department of Agriculture claims Ohio ranks second among the 50 states forlost farmland, but only 22nd for populatiom growth. But some programs are fighting the Thousands of acres are protected from and incentives direct development inward tourbanb areas. For the past decade, the Agriculture Departmentr has run a trio of easement programe that keep land underprivatr ownership, but prohibit nonagricultural The Clean Ohio Agricultural Easementr Purchase Program pays for up to 75 percentt of the appraised value of a farm’xs development rights, with a cap of $2,000 per acre and $500,009 per farm.
For a time, there also was a similadr Tobacco Agricultural EasementPurchase Program. And the Ohio Agricultural Easementr Donation Program preserves land through donated easements from From 2001through 2008, the three programzs saved 35,150 acres, including application s that are still pending. The purchase progranm can’t plant a stop sign right at the edgeof sprawl, “It can’t be right ther by the bulldozer. It would have to be said Mark Forni, executive director of the state’s Office of Farmland Preservation. Distance from water and sewee lines also isa factor.
Few farm s in easement programs havechangecd hands, but a sale in Clark Countyh a few months ago seemed to validate the programs’ “I think the farm sold for abourt $2,700 an acre with the easement on it. We had paid aboutr $1,300 an acre for the easement,” Forni With farms in that area selling forabout $4,00p0 an acre, the deal was on par with the market rates, he said. Some township s have tried to preserve agriculturall landthrough zoning. Union County’s Darby Township triesd prohibiting the sale of parcels smaller than 20 acresa in districts zoned agricultural and 5 acrez in districts zonedfarm residential.
Voters nixerd the zoning referendum, but Darbg came up with a versiohn that made agriculturalzoning voluntary. Sincw that law took effect in July landowners haveput 7,400 acres into it. Now the Logan-Union - is looking to use the idea, said Director Jennt Snapp. Redevelopment vs. development There also are incentives for developerss to build inurbajn areas, a side benefit of which is slowingv sprawl outward. “I would say you mightg call it anunitended consequence,” said Jonathan Barnes, principal of Ltd. in which has done historic preservation work. “Onw of he benefits of preservin g older builidings is that greenfields in othet areasare preserved.
” A lot depends on whethet a project might have been buil t on open land if an infill site wasn’t he said. “Most of our private clients that have engaged these incentives have said they reallyu could not have done the projectawithout them,” he said. “It is a lot easier to start witha flat, open site in the suburbx with easy acess and lots of and make something work out therer as opposed to a tight urban site withoutf a lot of space.” The Clean Ohio Assistance Fund providese grants to clean up brownfields, among othedr uses. As of 121 projects had been awarded $45.4 million.
Last year the progra m was modified so communities no longer have to get a user to commiy to a sitebefore it’x cleaned up. “Columbus in particular has been very successful forobtainingt grants,” said William Murdock, director of the Urba Development Division in the stated Department of Development. He pointefd to the former on East Broad where grant money was used for asbestos removal as the building was rehabbedinto apartments. The Historicf Preservation Tax Credit offers upto $5 million per project.
In the program is being used to rehabilitat the Old Ohio Deaf Schoolo on Town Street into downtownrental