December 30, 2008
From Governor Kaine's office
Governor Tim Kaine's office announced that eleven localities will receive funding to place lands under permanent conservation easement. This will help preserve farmland within their boundaries through local purchase of development rights (PDR) programs. The PDR programs compensate landowners who permanently preserve their land by voluntarily placing a perpetual conservation easement on it.
“Farmland preservation remains a priority for Virginia at both the state and local level,” Governor Kaine said. “Even with our budgetary restraints, we will continue to support PDR programs in every way we can. My Renew Virginia plan includes initiatives to protect our environment, and these PDR programs do exactly that.”
In all, 21 local PDR programs exist in Virginia, with 17 that have some level of local funding currently available. This is the second time that the Commonwealth of Virginia has provided state matching funds for certified local PDR programs.
Ten localities received $49,900 each: The counties of Albemarle, Clark, Fauquier, Goochland, Isle of Wight, James City, Northampton, Rappahannock, and Spotsylvania plus the city of Virginia Beach. Cumberland County received $1,000. Grant applicants had to report how much funding was available for their local PDR programs as of October 17, 2008, and the state funds matched that amount up to $49,900 per locality. Currently, localities report more than $43 million in non-state funding available for PDR programs, but state matching funds in 2009 are limited to $500,000 total.
“One of the key components of preserving working farmland is the role played by local governments,” said Todd P. Haymore, Commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services (VDACS), the agency that administers the state’s farmland preservation program. “This year state matching funds were reduced because of the depressed economic situation, but local governments continued to give high priority to this important task. The range of matching funds ran from $16.6 million all the way down to $1,000, which illustrates that even small and underfunded localities can set aside resources to be matched by the state.”
Localities interested in future rounds of grant applications for PDR matching funds should contact the Office of Farmland Preservation, Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, 102 Governor St., Richmond VA 23219 or call 804/786-1346. Or they may email Kevin Schmidt, the program coordinator, at kevin.schmidt@vdacs.virginia.gov.
Renew Virginia is Governor Kaine's year long initiative to promote renewable energy, green jobs, and environmental protection. For more information on Renew Virginia, visit www.governor.virginia.gov/Initiatives/RenewVirginia .
