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Page 2 Nov. - Dec: 2000 farmland preservation report Pennsylvania counties have control over applicant process continued from page 1 are not in competition with one another, accumu- lation of acres is an indication of political commit- ment as well as administrative efficiency. Program administrators in Pennsylvania say they have it all over Maryland, because they have more control over the process at the local level. In Pennsylvania, a farmer who submits an application to sell an easement will wait from eight months to one year before sitting down to the settlement table. But in Maryland, a farmer will wait 18 months to two years. According to Pickering, the Pennsylvania process is helped along by local administrators who accept the applications and conduct the technical work of surveys, appraisals and title work before the projects go before the state board for approval. Once approved, a project can be finalized in as little as 30 days. But in Maryland, farmers apply directly to the state, and all the technical and legal work is done by the state Department of General Services (DGS), which handles all the state's land and easement acquisitions — work that has increased substantially over the last decade. Prior to reach- ing DGS, applications are shuffled between the state and the counties for ranking. Local adminis- trators say a two -year wait is not unusual. Some local administrators in Maryland com- plain that the program's administration is diffuse — that no single person is in control, and that the process depends on an agency in which efficiency is near impossible — for the 147 applications approved by the Maryland Agricultural Lands Preservation Foundation last July, only three settlement attorneys are available at DGS. Local program administrators in Pennsylvania said state program operation has been running smoothly and the period between application and settlement has shortened by about three months over the last several years. Pennsylvania Gov. Torn Ridge is expected to announce the program's new status at an event in December. Farmland program states host half of nation's land initiatives continued from page 1 New York In New York, 11 towns passed tax increases or bond referenda for open space preservation amounting to more than $90 million in expected revenues and borrowing power. In the Town of Warwick, in Orange County, $9.5 million in bond funds will be dedicated to a purchase of develop- ment rights program. In West Chester County, N.Y., just north of New York City, five towns passed measures totaling $17 million in new spending, according to Tom Anderson of the West Chester Land Trust. All but one passed by more than 60 percent of the vote. While some of the money will be spent on urban open space in this county of 900,000 resi- dents, the northern part of the 450,000- square mile county has "lots of farms." Nurseries, apple orchards and horse farms dominate the agricul- tural economy, Anderson said. West Chester County officials last year formed an agricultural district board and a plan for farmland protection in order to participate in the state farmland preservation program. Now, they will have matching funds to qualify. The question now is, according to Anderson, how far $17 million will go in an area with some of the highest land values in the region. Pennsylvania In Pennsylvania, Bucks County and Chester County figured heavily in the state's local initia- tive activity, with three and two townships respec- tively passing open space spending measures. please continue to page 3