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Union County Land Preservation and Easement Program Update
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INFORMATION CONTACT:
Alan Aldridge, Soil & Water Conservation, Director, 704-233-1671; Andrew Baucom, Agricultural Services, Director, 704-283-3738
ACTION REQUESTED:
Receive information on status of the program.
PRIOR BOARD ACTIONS:
November 6, 2023, Regular Meeting, Agenda Item # 23-755 - 1) Approved staff to apply for a North Carolina Farmland Preservation Trust Fund grant application for a conservation easement development grant, 2) approved the Union County Soil & Water Conservation District to purchase and hold conservation easements for land preservation in Union County, and 3) approved the use of FY2023 present use valuation (PUV) rollback funds in the amount of $969,006 to be used for the purchase of conservation easements and associated transaction costs.
BACKGROUND:
Union County is currently ranked 13th in the United States for open space land loss on a per year basis according to the latest research published by the American Farmland Trust. Over the last 4 fiscal years, Union County has lost 3,191 acres (FY2020), 2,892 acres (FY2021), 3,625 acres (FY2022), and 2,419 acres (FY2023) from parcels enrolled in present use value (PUV) alone. According to the 2022 NCDA Census of Agriculture, Union County has 186,626 acres of farmland. In the Business-as-Usual scenario published by NC FarmLink, Union County is slated to lose 51,500 acres of current farmland by 2040. This scenario would represent approximately a 28% reduction in total farmland acreage in Union County by 2040.
The creation of a Union County Land Preservation and Easement program would allow landowners to sell and/or donate the development rights to their property while still obtaining ownership of the land. By selling and/or donating the development rights, open space and agricultural land will be preserved through conservation easements held by the Union County Soil & Water Conservation District. The District will ...
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