ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, November 8, 1996 TAG: 9611080089
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A-15 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
THE TRUST, one of more than a thousand in the country, sees its job as pushing protection agreements such as conservation easements.
The new land-preservation group to be headed by Explore Park departing director has but one aim: to prevent development from marring views, animal habitat and historic structures, organizers said.
The Western Virginia Land Trust has existed only since incorporation papers were filed with the state last month. Members of the Valley Beautiful organization were the driving force behind it. Sixteen people make up its board of directors.
The trust is a nonprofit group that will ask landowners near the Blue Ridge Parkway, national forests and other public scenic areas to agree not to develop their land. If an owner agrees and signs a legal document to that effect, called a conservation easement, the property may qualify for lower real estate and inheritance taxes.
Rupert Cutler, who will leave the top post at Explore Park next year, said he already talked to two or three Roanoke Valley landowners who want their property to remain part of the area's natural beauty. He declined to name them or identify the sites.
Property tax breaks become possible for any landowner who signs a conservation easement , Cutler said, because the land's value drops. "You can still continue to own it, continue to farm it, continue to log it, continue to hunt on it."
A trust agreement theoretically lowers the inheritance tax as well, Cutler said. Without a trust, even undeveloped land may be subject to a hefty inheritance tax after the owner dies and the property transfers to a family member. Families have had to sell pieces of their land to pay the tax, Cutler said.
The trust, one of more than a thousand in the country, sees its job as pushing protection agreements such as conservation easements. It will be able to make its own agreements with landowners after it proves to state officials it can stay in business for five years.
Interested landowners in the local area would make agreements until that time with a state-created trust, the Virginia Outdoors Foundation, in Richmond. The trusts don't receive any money from the agreements they sign, but must enforce them by ensuring development does not take place.
Cutler said less government revenue is the only "downside" of conservation easements. In many cases, he said, the money lost is far less than a government agency would have to spend to buy the protected land to keep it from being developed.
The trust intends to steer clear of "today's controversies," such as whether a power line should run through the forests, Cutler said.
The Western Virginia Land Trust will ask for donations from the public to pay its expenses. Cutler's salary is paid by two outside foundations.
LENGTH: Medium: 57 linesby CNB