Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, October 26, 1994                   TAG: 9410260027
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-12   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: BRIAN KELLEY
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

LAND DESIGNATIONS INTENDED TO ENCOURAGE PRESERVATION

Radford University Professor Justin Askins applied for the first program, but would not qualify for the second - a tax break - because he wants to keep his 140 acres of wooded mountainside undeveloped.

The two programs are:

Agricultural and forestal districts. Montgomery has 14 such districts, encompassing 41,000 acres. More than one-third of the land is in the Riner area. These districts give landowners no outright tax benefit but in return for agreeing not to develop their land for up to eight years, landowners gain certain other benefits. Those includes limits on the state and local governments' abilities to build public improvements through such districts, restrictions on the enforcement of noise and smell ordinances and mandated consideration any time development is planned adjacent to a district. The preservation of open spaces for environmental and aesthetic reasons is a goal of the program.

Land-use assessment and taxation. This real-estate tax break is designed to encourage farmers to stay in agriculture. Montgomery has approximately 68,000 acres in the program, again most in Riner, which saves farmers $350,000 a year. Farmers and horticulturalists don't need to be in an agricultural and forestal district to apply to be in the land-use tax program. But foresters do. And Montgomery's program does not recognize the preservation of open space - Askins' goal in this case - as qualifying for the special tax status.