Protecting land's future against any development

A Northern Neck woman places her historic acres in a land conservancy

BY LAWRENCE LATANE III

TIMES-DISPATCH STAFF WRITER

MERRY POINT -- Ann Carter's roots run deep in the Northern Neck.  

They reach back to 1659, when her ancestor Nicolas George arrived from England with 15 colonists in tow.

The passage with the extra settlers earned George rights to 750 acres of land on the shores of a sheltered estuary off the Rappahannock River called the Corrotoman River .

Today, a 145-acre tract known as Lombardy Grove Farm is all that's left of the original king's grant in Lancaster County . Carter is taking steps to protect it forever.

With the help of a state agency and the relatively new Northern Neck Land Conservancy, she's placing the land in a conservation easement that will prevent the land from being developed.

"When I was a child, there was nothing up the river or down the river -- it was all natural," said Carter, Lancaster County 's interim treasurer. "Now, it's houses and houses and I really don't want to see our property someday become condominium land."

The farm, with its steep bluffs and forested shoreline, is just upstream of the Merry Point Ferry, one of many focal points on the scenic peninsula that charm residents, tourists and new homebuyers alike. It contains 2 miles of shoreline on the Corrotoman and a tributary called Johns Creek .

The way conservancy member Mary Louisa Pollard sees it, the property's visibility makes the easement all the better because it will offer a glimpse of an unblemished piece of the Northern Neck.

"You know it's going to look the same way it looks now," she said.

Even as a flood of retirees seeking waterfront property change the Northern Neck, Pollard, Carter and others like them are working to preserve a unique place and way of life.

In the two years it has been in business, the Northern Neck Conservancy has helped the Virginia Outdoors Foundation secure easements on more than 2,200 acres. All told, the foundation, which is a quasi state agency under the supervision of the state secretary of natural resources, holds easements on more than 12,000 acres on the peninsula.

The foundation's conservation easement specialist, Estie Thomas, calls the Northern Neck Conservancy "one of our best partners -- the easements on the Northern Neck have just exploded. It's real exciting."

Among recent easements is one covering more than 300 acres at Stratford Hall. The property is the birthplace of Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee in Westmoreland County and is owned by a private historical association.

Nov 8, 2006

 

 

 
Carter said she hopes to record an easement on the deed to her land by the end of the year. Her husband is taking steps to place additional land he owns into easements as well, she said.

The easements do not constrain private property rights, but do limit an owners' ability to subdivide or develop land.

Conservancy secretary Kathryn Gregory says the organization is working with Northern Neck landowners who are considering protecting up to 6,000 acres in conservation easements.

Susan McKenna, who recently enrolled her 234-acre Lancaster County farm in an easement, said the pace of development along the eastern U.S. motivated her, along with the conservancy's guidance.

She and her husband watched development swallow open space in Connecticut before they moved to the Northern Neck 14 years ago, she said. Now, they are seeing the same forces of change in their new home.

"We'd been thinking about doing a conservation easement for a considerable period of time," she said. "We probably would not have gotten it done without the conservancy's help."

"It's a nice feeling to look out the window [at the farm] and know it's protected," she said.

Virginia gives incentives for easements. Donors can deduct up to 50 percent of the easement's value off their Virginia income taxes this year, or sell the deduction to other people who can use it. Next year the percentage shrinks to 40 percent, but the change allows the deduction to be applied to yearly tax returns over time until it is exhausted. Spreading the deductions out benefits farmers who typically do not make high enough incomes to use the deduction in one year.

The easement's value is the difference between what the land would be worth as developable property versus what it is worth after easement restrictions are applied. Lower assessments on land covered by easements may also offer real estate tax and estate tax advantages.

As the state grows, easements are becoming more popular among landowners, Thomas said. the foundation holds easements on 330,000 acres in Virginia , 193,000 of which have been secured within the past six years.

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine has set a goal of protecting and additional 400,000 acres during his four-year term of office.

"Obviously, we'll never have enough money to buy that much parkland," Thomas said. But easements donated by private landowners benefit the public by preserving rural beauty and protecting a locality's sense of place, she said.

"I think easements add to the economics of the area," she said. "Tourists don't go to the Northern Neck to see subdivisions."  

Northern Neck Land Conservancy, Inc. | PO Box 125| Lancaster, Virginia 22503
804.462.0979
nnlc@kaballero.com
We are a nonprofit corporation under Section 501(c)(3) of the Federal Internal Revenue Code.