How to Place Land in Conservation Easement

[Anonymous]

We are retirees wanting to place roughly 120 acres of farmland in Loudoun County, Virginia under conservation easement to preserve our agrarian roots and heritage, however do not have experience nor the knowledge as to how to approach such a task; We are financially adequate, and thus would like to avoid selling the land to a developer at all costs. Is anybody familiar with getting county approval to either rezone or any organizations that specialize in conservation?

[Anonymous]

The Loudon website has a lot of info: https://www.loudoun.gov/2816/Conservation-Easements-in-Loudoun-County

[Anonymous]

Sell it to me OP. I’d love to have my own space.

[Anonymous]

Find a land use attorney. Call the town attorney's office - they might have a list. They probably can't recommend anyone, but they might keep a list of some kind.

See if you can look at filings with the planning and zoning authority and look for the same names coming up.

My SIL has a practice doing this sort of law (not in VA though). It's a specialty area and there is likely someone doing this work already.

[Anonymous]

I recently heard a legal CLE on VA conservation easements given by Jack Hanssen with Moyes & Associates, LLC in Leesburg. He was quite good. VA is one of the few states who has a tax credit program and consulting with an attorney upfront to learn the ins and outs of the VA options is well worth it. Conservation easements are forever, so having advise on getting a well drafted one---instead of just signing a form template, is important.

[Anonymous]

Why do you want the conservation easement? No one is going to care about your heritage unless you have a relative to leave it to. How are you planning to fund the maintenance of the land after you're dead?

These types of egotistical preferences are for wealthy people with a desire to control from the grave.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want the conservation easement? No one is going to care about your heritage unless you have a relative to leave it to. How are you planning to fund the maintenance of the land after you're dead?

These types of egotistical preferences are for wealthy people with a desire to control from the grave.

Conservation easements are great moves if you don’t care about resale because they tank you land value for taxation purposes

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want the conservation easement? No one is going to care about your heritage unless you have a relative to leave it to. How are you planning to fund the maintenance of the land after you're dead?

These types of egotistical preferences are for wealthy people with a desire to control from the grave.

OP already said that she didn’t want the land to be sold to a developer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Does your land abut the AT or any Civil War battlefields? There are several orgs I've worked with that would love to pace your land in a trust. Basically it's the same as an easement and allows public access. You set he parameters you are comfortable with.

Yup, agreed with this. The Civil War ones I'm familiar with often involve actual easements, not land trusts. You could also look into the Virginia Open Space Land Act to see if there are mechanisms or grants available.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want the conservation easement? No one is going to care about your heritage unless you have a relative to leave it to. How are you planning to fund the maintenance of the land after you're dead?

These types of egotistical preferences are for wealthy people with a desire to control from the grave.

Conservation easements are great moves if you don’t care about resale because they tank you land value for taxation purposes

Yup and you can sometimes either be paid by an organization "buying" the development rights, or have it considered a donation for tax purposes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are retirees wanting to place roughly 120 acres of farmland in Loudoun County, Virginia under conservation easement to preserve our agrarian roots and heritage, however do not have experience nor the knowledge as to how to approach such a task; We are financially adequate, and thus would like to avoid selling the land to a developer at all costs. Is anybody familiar with getting county approval to either rezone or any organizations that specialize in conservation?

Why not just get a local farmer to cut hay on the land and have the farmer submit a farm use form each year to your county tax assessor during tax season and get a huge break on property taxes? Once you out the land into a conservation easement you’re completely limited with its use. I mean of course you’re aware of that, but maybe just get the tax break.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why do you want the conservation easement? No one is going to care about your heritage unless you have a relative to leave it to. How are you planning to fund the maintenance of the land after you're dead?

These types of egotistical preferences are for wealthy people with a desire to control from the grave.

OP already said that she didn’t want the land to be sold to a developer.

what a savior

[Anonymous]

Call Chris, the Rural Business Development Manager of Loudoun Economic Development and he can match you to a farmer looking for land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We are retirees wanting to place roughly 120 acres of farmland in Loudoun County, Virginia under conservation easement to preserve our agrarian roots and heritage, however do not have experience nor the knowledge as to how to approach such a task; We are financially adequate, and thus would like to avoid selling the land to a developer at all costs. Is anybody familiar with getting county approval to either rezone or any organizations that specialize in conservation?

Why not just get a local farmer to cut hay on the land and have the farmer submit a farm use form each year to your county tax assessor during tax season and get a huge break on property taxes? Once you out the land into a conservation easement you’re completely limited with its use. I mean of course you’re aware of that, but maybe just get the tax break.

that’s a great idea! hope loudouns agricultural economy continues to thrive. loudoun possesses the most wineries out of all counties in virginia, and is home to some of the most scenic routes in all of virginia.

[Anonymous]

OP, we own Ag land in Frederick County, MD that is protected (Frederick County is trying to put a lot of farms into Ag preservation to save them from development). A quick google for Loudoun county turns up this link: https://www.loudoun.gov/easementassistance

I would go through that page and see if you qualify, look at the form, call the number at the bottom of the page and hopefully someone will be able to answer your questions and help you. Good luck - for us it took a few years but it's worth it.