Growing Interest In Land Preservation

I continue to be amazed at the quality and beauty of properties that have been recommended for preservation to the Guilford County Open Space Committee. Community interest is definitely growing and we are receiving more calls than ever from interested property owners. In many instances these property owners are so eager to preserve their tracts that they are offering them significantly below the appraised value. One recent owner is considering simply gifting their beautiful tract to Guilford County. Direct tax credits from the State of N.C. can provide some important benefits for below market value transactions and for land gifts to the county or state.

It is very impressive to work with property owners with land that has been in their family for several generations. Their commitment to permanently preserve their land becomes more important for them than receiving top dollar from a developer.

We have had two property walks this week that were simply stunning. One near Deep River in South West Guilford County and the other was off of Yanceyville Rd. that backs up to Lake Townsend. It seems like gradually the word is getting out about the work of the Open Space Committee and its very ambitious goal to protect 100 acres of park and open space per 1,000 residents of Guilford County.

In the last inventory of protected land in Guilford County we sadly found “that (only) 4.69% of the total land within Guilford County is currently protected by some form of government ownership or conservation easement. In other words, of the 417,308 total acres of land in Guilford County, 19,565 acres (including 5,308 of surface water) are currently protected."

We are perhaps in our last decade to still have access to important tracts for preservation. Our work over the next ten years is crucial. The $10million Open Space Bond approved in 2004 is the core of our funds for land preservation but we have been able to tag team with state funds and clean water trust funds to help that money go much farther. No doubt another bond will be needed for additional land preservation in several more years.