APB agenda 092700 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

1 September 2000 farmland preservation report Michigan, continued from page 2 hensive approach," that will include economic development "like they're doing in Maryland." Louis Martus, a full -time dairy farmer in . Lapeer, has been hard at work shpwing township officials that farmland loss is a problem that can be addressed. As chairman of his county's farm bureau local affairs committee, Martus recently helped organize a bus tour of local farms for township officials. "I think a lot of people are aware of farmland preservation, but it takes officials to get things going." Keeping Lapeer County commissioners inter- ested and involved is a challenge, Martus said. "We've been trying to get the county [involved], but -it might be townships working with other townships that will matter." Martus has been successful in getting his neighbors to apply to sell. their development rights in the existing state program, with :seven. land- owners in a contiguous block. While ten times that number were interested in the program, "every- body is sitting back to see what will happen with the seven individuals" that have received offers from the state program. Martus is one of the applicants. Martus shares with others a lingering sense of despair when he thinks about the disappoint- ments of the past legislative session, when Gov. John Engler started out with a solid, promising proposal to tax farmland at its current use value rather than its development value. The plan included a recapture penalty when land is taken out of agricultural use, with penalty funds to be used for farmland preservation. Then wranglings began over what level of penalty to set. Develop- ment interests bent the ears of legislators and succeeded in eliminating any significant recapture fee that could have been used to provide a mean- ingful level of funding for the program. "Rogue legislature" According to Keith Schneider, project director and founding executive director of the Michigan Land Use Institute, Gov. Engler dropped the ball Page 3 and was less than genuine in his intentions for farmland preservation. "The governor had a good proposal, but he didn't really mean it — which is not unusual for him on these issues." According to Schneider, and others who were involved in the legislative session, the governor never weighed in when ranking Sen. George McManus of Traverse City and Jack Laurie, president of the Michigan Farm Bureau hosted closed -door sessions with the real estate industry that gutted the bill and created "a rogue legisla- ture." That set off mass confusion about a package of bills that were supposed to be about farmland preservation, and instead looked more like a bed of roses for developers. The result was a mess that couldn't be straightened out before session's end. "There was a significant recapture fee that would have brought $20 to $30 million a year," for farmland preservation,.Schneider said. Instead, . McManus' version would have created "a land banking system [for developers] at taxpayers' expense." Use value assessment for farmland has been on Gov. Engler's list of things to do since 1994 when he appointed a task force to strengthen the state's $37 billion ag industry. Last February, speaking before 400 county representatives of the Michigan Farm Bureau, he promised to push the tax break through the legislature and onto the fall ballot. "Something communities can do" David Skjaerlund, director of the Rural Devel- opment Council of Michigan, is working through the maze of where to go from here. Skjaerlund said his part will be to continue grassroots work and help localities get ready to apply for grants from the Agricultural Preserva- tion Fund. Part of Skjaerlund's strategy is leading a semi - annual bus tour to Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey counties to hear about farmland please turn to page 4