Published: Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 / Updated: Tuesday, Aug. 26, 2008 01:57 PM

Land conservation program hits milestone with deeds of green

It was 10 years ago this month that the York County Council gave the green light to saving green space.

So far, the program -- York County Forever -- has preserved 8,754 acres, most of which would have eventually been turned into subdivisions, strip malls or mobile home lots.

At the time, York County Forever was a highly controversial proposal: local tax dollars to help secure conservation easements from landowners to keep the land from ever being developed.

In 2007, York County became the first in the Charlotte region to purchase development rights to a family-owned farm. York County Forever worked with several land trusts and Jeff Wilson's family, who owned the 1,000-acre Cotton Hills Farm on the York/Chester county line. Wilson sold the development rights for 850 acres. The property is now appraised at a much lower tax rate, which will allow him to more easily pass the farmland on to his three children who want to see it continue as a working farm.

The Wilsons grow produce for a roadside stand and grind their own grits from a variety of corn that has been in their family since the late 1800s. More than 4,000 schoolchildren visit the working farm each year, and Wilson delights in explaining to the children where their food comes from.

Anne Springs Close, founding board member of York County Forever, says the preservation of Cotton Hills Farm was a highlight of the past decade, but saving green space has not been easy.

"Change is hard; people thought we were crazy. They said, 'Why should we give our tax dollars to landowners not to turn their pasture into a sub division?'" said Close, former chair of the York County Forever board.

"Back then, some people couldn't see the immediate need to save the open spaces while we still could, because they thought we had an endless supply. ... If we hadn't started when we did, we'd be like Charlotte with hardly enough open land left to preserve."

Close, winner of the 2000 BMW Conservation Award in part for her work with the group, said much of the groundwork was done by two former Council members, Carl Gullick and Murray White. She also praises the current leadership of York County Planning Director Susan Britt.

"Carl and Murray persevered through much public opposition and were able to secure some initial funding," Close said.

Many landowners donate the easements, and York County Forever pays the legal and administrative fees, as well as for land appraisals and the necessary work with the land trusts.

Chappell former opponent

One of the most vocal opponents to the program in the early years was council member Curwood Chappell, who said the program favored wealthy landowners. In 2006, when the group had preserved only 2,900 acres, far short of its 10,000-acre goal by 2010, Chappell referred to it as a "wasteful, extravagant bureaucracy that the public can't afford."

Chappell was opposed to spending taxpayers' dollars for land that the public didn't have access to. The public doesn't have access to smaller private tracts, but the public does have access to two of the larger tracts in the program--the 1,647-acre Dalton Ranch/Worth Mountain property off S.C. 11 along the Broad River, and the 92-acre Nanny's Mountain off S.C. 49 and 274, which has hiking trails.

There also is public hunting and fishing on properties such as the 426-acre Draper property on Brattonsville Road.

Chappell has since softened his opposition to the program, which now gets more than $900,000 in county funding annually. Relatives of Chappell have donated a conservation easement on a 238-acre tract off Mobley Store Road.

Amish farms saved

Former Council member Murray White said the original idea for York County Forever was prompted by a visit from Pat Noonan, founder of the national Conservation Fund. He told a local group of conservationists how easements and the purchase of development rights had been used in the 1980s in eastern Pennsylvania to save large Amish farms that were being bought up by developers from suburban Philadelphia.

"Pat explained the program to us, and I knew it would be hard to sell here until people realized if we didn't start saving some of this open land now it would be cost-prohibitive at a later date," said White, founder of the Nation Ford Land Trust.

"One thing that has helped us is that this has never been an `anti-growth' program. We've always believed that quality land conservation goes hand-in-hand with good economic development practices."

White said the program has not been all successes: They could not close the deal on one of their first projects, one of the prettiest pieces of rolling, open pasture in the county, the Harper family farm on S.C. 161 near Tirzah; the group also lost out on its $13.2 million bid for Bowater's 1,000-acre former seed pine tree lab and nursery along the Catawba River.

Want to know more about this program designed to save green space? Contact Jacque Sorrentino, York County's open space planner, at 909-7221.