Connecticut has a goal of protecting 130,000 acres of prime farmland throughout the state. The Department of Agriculture has preserved 31,275 acres so far and is averaging 773 new acres each year. At this rate the State will not achieve its goal until the next century. The problem is they are irretrievably losing 7,000 to 9,000 acres or approximately 12 percent of their farmland to development every year. This is the highest rate of loss of any state in the United States.
The bottom line is money. The Connecticut Department of Agriculture is currently negotiating for the purchase of development rights on 32 farms and has a backlog of applications where they have not started negotiations. Public Act 05-228, now known as the Community Investment Act, provides some funding, but most of the funds must still come from the sale of the State’s general obligation bonds, the government equivalent of IOU’s. The General Assembly has authorized bond funds to purchase development rights easements, but the State Bond Commission must approve the sale of the bonds before the money actually exists.
The Connecticut Farmland Trust and several land trusts are doing what they can to preserve farmland. These trusts may apply for limited state and federal grants, but they must raise most of the funds to purchase easements and all of their operating costs on their own. Most experts now agree that all of Connecticut’s prime farmland will either be preserved through development rights easements or permanently lost to development within the next fifteen to twenty years.
The Nature Conservancy and the Rhode Island Policy Council have identified an area along the Rhode Island - Connecticut border where there is a substantial amount of open land that could be preserved in both states extending from the Massachusetts state line to Long Island Sound. Some of this area is prime farmland and some is more suitable for forest and open space land. It is generally considered to be the last remaining large tract of rural land between Portland, Maine and Washington, D.C. The small towns in this area are preparing themselves for the growth that will inevitably come, but they want to retain as much of their local character as possible. The Nature Conservancy and the Rhode Island Economic Policy Council have designated this area as the Borderlands Project and made several proposals to accommodate growth while retaining open areas and local character. One of these is the transfer of development rights.
Connecticut Rep. Diana Urban (R-43rd District) said at a recent hearing on the transfer of development rights proposal that enabling legislation would be necessary before towns in Connecticut could initiate such programs. She indicated she may file such a bill in the 2007 General Assembly. For more information on the Borderlands Project, visit their website at www.borderlands.org.
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