Commonwealth Minimum Eligibility Requirements

The State Agricultural Land Preservation Board has established minimum requirements which farmland tracts must meet to be eligible to be considered for easement purchase. Farmland tracts shall:

1. Be located in an agricultural security area consisting of 500 acres or more.

2. Be contiguous acreage of at least 35 acres in size unless the tract is at least 10 acres in size and is either utilized for a crop unique to the area or is contiguous to a property which has a perpetual conservation easement in place.

3. Have at least 50% of the soils which are available for agricultural production and are of capability classes I-IV.

4. Contain the greater of 50% or 10 acres of harvested cropland, pasture or grazing land.

County Minimum Eligibility Requirements

If a farm ranks highly with the Land Evaluation and Site Assessment system but does not meet all of the above Commonwealth requirements (i.e. for size and/or soil quality requirements), the Lehigh County Agricultural Land Preservation Board may choose to preserve the farm using 100% Lehigh County funds.

Purchase Procedure

1. Application Submission by March 31st

2. Ranking of Applications (Land Evaluation and Site Assessment)

• Soil Quality (Land Evaluation) - 40% of Ranking Score
• Development Potential - 10%
• Farmland Potential - 30%
• Clustering Potential - 20%

3. Appraisal (Fair Market Value - Agricultural Value = Easement Value)

4. County Board Approval

5. Offer made to Landowner

6. Boundary Survey (If  Needed)

7. State Board Approval

8. Settlement

Please note:  The entire easement process, from the time you apply to the time of actual settlement, can take 18 to 24 months, if your farm is selected for preservation.

Easement Deed Conditions

• All easements are perpetual
• All normal agricultural uses are permitted, including crop and livestock production, and the construction of farm buildings for the storage, processing, and marketing of products produced on the farm.
• Commercial, industrial, institutional, recreational, and residential development are prohibited, unless specifically permitted on the easement deed.
• Farm-related development (barns, sheds, greenhouses, livestock housing, etc.) is permitted as long as the total area covered with buildings is no more than 10% of the total easement area.
• Subdivision of the property subject to the agricultural conservation easement is restricted to subdivisions that will not harm the economic viability of the farmland for agricultural production.   Subdivision approval must be sought from both the County and State Agricultural Land Preservation Boards.
• Only one additional residence may be constructed on the farm.  This additional residence may be constructed for the purpose of housing the landowner or for housing farm employees.
• All agricultural production on the farm must be conducted in accordance with a conservation plan approved by the Lehigh County Conservation District.
• The landowner agrees to allow the Lehigh County Agricultural Land Preservation Board to conduct yearly inspections of the property to ensure that no easement violations have occurred.
• If the easement property is sold, the conservation easement restrictions must be included verbatim in the new deed transferring ownership of the property.
• The easement does not give the public access to the property.

Price Paid for Easements

Lehigh County landowners have received $1,000-$6,000 per acre for giving up their development rights.  This price is determined by appraisal. Unfortunately, because of funding limitations, only a limited number of farms can be preserved each year.  Once a year, the Lehigh County Agricultural Land Preservation Board establishes a price/acre easement purchase cap based on the availability of funds and the amount of interest in the program.  Currently, the Lehigh County easement purchase cap is $6,000/acre.

For More Information

For more information on Lehigh County's Agricultural Conservation Easement Program, please call Jeff Zehr at  (610) 391- 9583, ext 15; Web site www.lehighcounty.org (Agricultural Land Preservation); or stop by the Lehigh County Agricultural Center , Suite 102, 4184 Dorney Park Road, Allentown, PA   18104-5728.