
DATE: Wednesday, April 16, 1997             TAG: 9704150254

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B3   EDITION: FINAL 

TYPE: Public Life 

SOURCE: BY KAREN WEINTRAUB, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                    LENGTH:   87 lines

PRESERVING FARMS, PENNIES VIRGINIA BEACH PROGRAM BLOCKS RESIDENTIAL BUILDING COSTS.

Organizers thought they had a good idea when they created a farmland preservation program two years ago. They just didn't know if it would work.

Similar programs in other places have been slow to take off - farmers are traditionally skeptical of government and loathe to give up control of their land.

But owners of property in southern Virginia Beach already have made the city's program more successful than supporters imagined it could be.

``I never, ever in my wildest dreams thought it would go this well,'' said Mary M. Heinricht, an environmental consultant who helped develop the Agricultural Reserve Program.

The plan was to stop residential development of 20,000 acres of farmland over 25 years. But in the 16 months since the city started accepting applications, so many owners have expressed interest that the city expects to be a quarter of the way to its final goal by the end of next year.

It's done so well, city officials say, because the program was crafted to give everyone a good deal.

Landowners, who agree not to build subdivisions or sell to developers, stand to make a substantial sum without giving up their right to farm. They are paid the difference between what their property is worth as farmland and what it would be worth to a home-builder - about $3,300 per acre so far.

But because the city pays for the land by buying 25-year bonds, it only has to put up a small fraction of the actual cost of the development rights. So, for the price of 1.5-cents a year on the tax rate, the residents and businesses of Virginia Beach can avoid providing costly services to 20,000 acres of now-empty land.

Subdivisions usually cost more in city services than they provide in taxes, city budget director E. Dean Block said. Farmland requires fewer schools than homes and doesn't need city water and sewer, so it doesn't drain the city's tax base, he said.

If the Agricultural Reserve Program saves the city from building one middle school - which it almost certainly will - it will have paid for itself, Block said.

``If you think about 20,000 acres full of houses, you can easily see a high school or middle school would need to be built,'' he said. The average middle school, providing education for 1,800 students, costs about $3 million a year in bond debt and several hundred thousand dollars annually to operate.

Under the current zoning, only 164 houses could be built on the nearly 2,000 acres the City Council has approved for the preservation program.

But the council and other city officials worry that future councils would yield to pressure from developers and increase the zoning, creating the need for more schools, roads and utilities that would have to be paid for by taxpayers citywide.

``There's reason to think that if you didn't do something, down the road they'd change the zoning,'' Agriculture Director Louis E. Cullipher said.

The program's only problem so far, Cullipher said, is that it's been too slow to meet the landowners' demand.

Although the council has approved the purchase of development rights on 1,923 acres, it has only closed one deal for 48 acres since starting the application process in January 1996. Cullipher said city officials are learning how to better handle the paperwork, and he hopes to cut the time between filing an application and closing a deal to less than a year.

The program is already a model for the rest of the state, and is receiving national attention. The General Assembly tabled a bill earlier this year that would have established a similar farmland preservation project statewide. The legislature, instead, set up a committee to study the idea.

Cullipher said he thinks the Agricultural Reserve Program has been a success because it appeals to farmers' love of land.

``Most farmers view land as a resource, a way to make a living, as opposed to a commodity to be bought and sold as a product,'' Cullipher said. ``It's a different paradigm with farmers than with some other landowners. . . Land is the basic ingredient to farming. Land kind of comes first.'' ILLUSTRATION: Photo by Charlie Meads/The Virginian-Pilot

The city has been buying development rights to farms similar to this

one in Back Bay of a program that allows...

Graphic

What is it: The Agricultural Reserve Program helps farmers stay

in business and preserves open land.< How does it work: Farmers

are paid not to build on or sell to developers. The city buys the

land with long-term bonds and farmers get annual dividends.<

Program cost: The entire program will cost $87 million.

Map/Vp

KEYWORDS: VIRGINIA BEACH AGRICULTURAL RESERVE PROGRAM