Land issues?

Question

A parcel of land adjacent to my property is 300 acres. It is owned jointly by six people, one of which is a neighbor. This piece of land is beautiful, rolling, covered with oak woods, wetlands, and the headwaters of a nearby creek. The problem is that it is for sale, and I just know land developers want to swoop down and destroy it. I grew up exploring and horseback riding through it, and am somewhat attached to it. It would kill me if a developer bought that land and turned it into another chunk of beige cookie-cutter houses that seem to be popping up everywhere nowadays. Our county has a conservation district that purchases pieces of land like that for habitat restoration, but they probably wouldn't be able to compete with the price that developers could offer the owners of the property. All they are interested in is making money, and that makes many people in this area angry. Can anything that can be done to prevent a developer from purchasing that land and destroying it?

Answer 1

Why not ask your community to contribute money and buy that parcel of land for the purpose of preservation or making it into a park.  through that,  the people will have total control of the land.  Through this,  your community can save many wildlife from lossing their home.  This world really needs more plants and trees too .

Answer 2

The people who own the land have the right to sell it to whomever they want. If you or anyone doesn't like that, you have the option of purchasing it yourself or as part of a group. It seems to me you are upset because you may not be able to use the land yourself.

Answer 3

Whoever owns it can sell its development rights. Basically the landowner can keep the land but get paid not to develop it. This puts lots of restrictions on what they can do after that point... but its an incentive not to develop. You can also sell recreational rights to various groups too. AND you can get an easement, then sell the land, and the next owner must obey the easement as well. Some times there are restrictions to how many times it can be divided up . It might be hard to sell land to someone when they know they can't do anything with it though.

Or, there are tax incentives for open space and forest land.

If you told your neighbor about them, maybe they would take a second though on selling.

Answer 4

I don't know from which country you belong, but in India, we can't divert any forest land for any non forestry purpose irrespective of any ownership. It is barred here in Indian Forest Coservation Act 1980. You should take advice of ur local Forest Officials, administrators and even you can involve NGOs and environment lovers i it.

Answer 5

My suggestions are as follows:

a. Speak with your local land trust

b. Speak with conservation district

c. Visit local township, municipality, or Dept of Environmental Resources

d. Learn the development process

e. Even if a project is developed, it must be developed within a series regulations and guidelines (both local, regional, and state)

f. Conduct a PNDI search - rare/endangered species

g. What is stream or watershed classification

h. Form a watershed group

Answer 6

This is a long shot but may be worth pursuing. The Nature Conservancy buys important or fragile lands housing endangered ecosystems. Being that this piece of land is the headwaters to a creek perhaps it would be considered important enough to save. Does it have any plant or animal life that is becoming rare? Any native flowers and grasses, birds or fish that will be lost to development? Are their any caves under it? The Nature Conservancy is concerned about water quality and caves. Perhaps a joint committee between the local conservation district, the Nature Conservancy and the local community could be formed to save this land. The 6 owners would like a good return on their investment and if they could get that and keep the land without cookie cutter houses they might see this as a win-win for everyone. One good thing is that at the moment due to newer more restrictive home loans, most potential development land is not being bought and sold as quickly as it was in the last few years. You may have time to work something out.