Richland Planned Communities Teams with Farmland Trust on Landmark Ag Land Protection Agreement; Lathrop-Area Exchange Would Be One of Largest in State History
06.28.06, 8:02 PM ET : BusinessWire at Forbes.com
Richland Planned Communities has donated nearly 1,000 acres to the Central Valley Farmland Trust, the state's leading agricultural preservation organization, assuring the prime farmland will be permanently protected from development.
In one of the largest agricultural land transfers in California history, Richland and the Farmland Trust took advantage of a rarely used law, referred to as a "Williamson Act Easement Exchange," to set aside agricultural land in San Joaquin County forever.
Under a California law called the "Williamson Act," agricultural landowners can reduce their property assessments by signing long-term contracts to keep their land in agricultural use. Landowners who want to proceed with development must pay a steep financial penalty to cancel those long-term contracts or wait 10 years for the contracts to expire.
Williamson Act cancellations usually result in the loss of farmland. The Williamson Act Easement Exchange assures that ag lands will be preserved permanently.
Bridgett Luther, Director of the California Department of Conservation, praised the preservation agreement in a letter to Lathrop Mayor Gloryanna Rhodes authorizing the exchange.
"I am pleased that the City and the parties to the easement have been able to use the Williamson Act Easement Exchange Program," Luther wrote. "The local and state agricultural economy will benefit from this agreement and the resulting permanent agricultural conservation easement."
Central Valley Farmland Trust Executive Director Bill Martin applauded the pioneering nature of the exchange. "We're very pleased to be part of this easement and appreciate the efforts of Richland and the Department, especially having to navigate in uncharted waters given the fact this approach has been utilized so few times." he said.
The Legislature passed the law that allowed the exchange in 1998, but due to the cumbersome findings required, it has only been used a handful of times. Dubbed "the easement exchange," the provision allows for a Williamson Act contract to be rescinded (canceled), subject to transferring permanent agricultural land of equal or greater size, monetary value, and agricultural suitability.
Bill Geyer, a consultant and lobbyist in Sacramento, who was part of Senator John Williamson's (Williamson Act) team, was a major player in creating the 1998 law.
"We wanted to establish a provision that allowed contract cancellation dollars to benefit agricultural conservation," said Geyer.
Normally, funds generated by this process are sent to the State General Fund and are not used for the preservation or enhancement of agricultural land, something Geyer, farmland owners and environmental groups wanted to see changed.
By taking advantage of the law, Richland's exchange diverts more funds and protects more farm land -- 927 acres worth $5 million -- than any previous easement. Thus, "Mainstone" property, south of the Lathrop, will never be developed.
In exchange, Richland was only allowed 308 acres under contract to be rescinded five years early. John McCaull, a consultant working with Geyer on behalf of Richland, stated that, "(the exchange) was by far the largest we (Geyer and McCaull) had worked on or of which we were aware."
Thurtle, Richland's Senior Vice President, added: "We recognized this opportunity and committed to the rescission in our approval process." Thurtle was referring to the adoption of the City of Lathrop's Central Lathrop Specific Plan, for which Richland was the project proponent, as well as the annexation of Richland's planned Land Park at Lathrop project.
Richland's representatives in San Joaquin County, Don Troppmann and Clifton Taylor, could not have been happier with the outcome.
"Richland made this commitment to the City and San Joaquin County and delivered something special," said Troppman. Added Taylor: "It was not easy, with so few examples of the process, and it would not have been possible without the experience of Geyer and McCaull, and the commitment of the Department and Trust to our timeline."