APB agenda 082003 - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

5 compared to residential, commercial or industrial uses, open space located within 400 meters of a residential property has a positive impact on that property's price. Further, pasture and cropland generate higher amenity benefits to nearby residences than forested open space. Finally, both permanent conservation through easements and public ownership increase the positive impact that open space has on neighboring residential prices. . In addition to open space, we investigate in this project the impact on nearby residential property values of several different types of potentially undesirable facilities and land uses. These include sewage treatment plants, landfills, high-traffic roads, airport runways, mushroom production facilities and large -scale animal production facilities. Particular attention is paid to the potential local disamenity associated with animal production, as this is an activity that would be allowed on land that is covered by an agricultural conservation easement. Few implicit price studies have been conducted that specifically address the amenity impact of animal production on residential property values. Abeles- Allison and Connor (1990), in a study of property values near large hog operations in Michigan found that house values decreased by $1.74 for each additional hog within a 2 kilometer radius of the house. They did not find significant impacts outside of 2 kilometers. One limitation of this study is that it only included eight hog operations that had received multiple odor complaints. Property value impacts from these eight operations might well be greater than those from other operations that did not receive complaints. Palmquist et al (1997) measured'the impact on residential property values of hog production in the coastal plain of North Carolina, where some of the largest animal production facilities in the nation are located. For each residential property, the total amount of hog manure produced within '/2 mile, within 1 mile, and within 2 miles was determined. They found that house price was negatively affected by the concentration of hogs near the house, and that the negative impact on house price from a single hog operation could be as large as 8.4 %. The Michigan study assumed that the negative impact from a livestock operation on house prices increased proportionally with the number of livestock located near the house. The North Carolina study assumed that the impact from hog production was tied to the total tons of manure generated within each ring around the house. One issue. that is addressed in this project is the relationship between the impact of animal production on house price and the scale of animal production near the house. Second, the Michigan and the North Carolina studies are both restricted to hog operations. This project includes poultry, swine, and beef and dairy operations. Finally, the Michigan and North Carolina studies investigated the impact of animal production on house price in isolation. This study estimates the impacts from several potential local disamenities simultaneously, as well as from open space versus developed land use. III. The Study Area: Berks County Berks County occupies an area (864 square miles) between Philadelphia and Harrisburg in southeastern Pennsylvania. Today in Berks County, farming remains a very important sector amidst a surbanizing country -side and a diversifying economy. Currently, about 40% of the county's land is devoted to agriculture. An additional 34% is in other, mostly forested, open 4