THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 4, 1995 TAG: 9501040420
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
The City Council got its first peek Tuesday at a proposal that could save taxpayers untold millions of dollars by slowing land development in the mostly rural, southern part of the city.
The catch: To save money, the city must spend money first. The plan would cost taxpayers about $3.5 million a year for the next quarter-century, or about $87.5 million total.
Under the proposal, called the Agricultural Reserve Program, the city would pay farmers not to develop their land. Supporters of the program say it would bolster an important local industry and would keep the city from having to provide water and sewer service, roads and schools to miles of new subdivisions.
Mary M. Heinricht, an environmentalist who helped draft the proposal, said the average Virginia Beach homeowner receives about $1.30 in city services for every $1 paid in taxes. Farmers receive about 30 cents for every $1 paid, she said.
The reserve program would also help protect the environment, particularly Back Bay and the North Landing River system, Heinricht said.
Council members seemed receptive to the idea of buying the farmers' development rights; most of their questions were aimed at finding ways to make the plan more palatable to the public.
Council members John A. Baum and Barbara M. Henley strongly support the program, which they helped devise. Other members said they wanted more details, particularly about the proposed financing, before casting their vote.
The plan was developed over the past year by a group of farmers, environmentalists and city officials calling itself the ad hoc Southern Watersheds Committee.
Committee member E. Dean Block, director of the city's department of management and budget, said he thinks the program should be funded in part with a 1-cent property tax increase.
The rest of the money could be raised with bonds, taxes on cellular phones and regular contributions to the city in lieu of taxes from The Nature Conservancy, a group that owns and protects thousands of acres in the southern part of Virginia Beach.
The committee developed criteria for ranking farmland, such as whether it's near other protected land, whether it's productive farmland and how badly the farmer needs to sell.
The city would hold the development rights to the property, but the land would still be privately owned; none of it would be accessible to the public. After 25 years, the landowner could petition the city for permission to repurchase the development rights.
The council will discuss the proposal at a workshop tentatively scheduled for Jan. 17. by CNB