Tuesday, March 28, 2000
Developers opposed to preserving farmland
BY MICHAEL HAWTHORNE
Enquirer Columbus Bureau
COLUMBUS — Developers are trying to block Gov. Bob Taft from using a $400 million bond proposal to preserve farmland.
Mr. Taft wants the money for a variety of uses, such as cleaning up abandoned industrial sites, preserving green space and creating bike trails. Lawmakers are expected to place the initiative before voters in November.
As it stands now, money from the bonds also could be used to secure development rights that keep farmland free from strip malls and housing tracts. But the Ohio Association of Home Builders, an influential trade group, fears the campaign to pass the initiative could turn into a referendum on suburban sprawl.
Developers are trying to shut off the debate before it starts with an amendment before the House Finance Committee, which is scheduled to consider the governor's proposal today. The amendment would
strike any specific mention of farmland preservation from the measure.
“There are some serious questions about the value of saving farmland,” said Vince Squillace, the association's lobbyist. “We don't like the idea of a hundred or so news stories between now and November cracking open the anti-growth debate.”
Half the money from the bond issue would be used for local efforts to preserve green space and farmland. The other $200 million would be used to clean up abandoned industrial sites, also known as brownfields, most of which are located in urban areas.
Rep. Gene Krebs, a Camden Republican who sits on the Finance Committee, wants to preserve the governor's proposal. He thinks it could slow the conversion of rural counties into suburbia, giving local officials more time to plan for growth.
Farmland is disappearing more quickly in Ohio than in the nation as a whole. A third of the state's tillable acres was lost between 1950 and 1997, compared to 20 percent nationwide, according to the Ohio Office of Farmland Preservation.
The loss was even more dramatic in Southwest Ohio.
Hamilton County lost three-quarters of its farmland during the same period. Clermont County lost 63 percent, Warren County 49 percent and Butler County 47 percent.
“This money is crucial as an option for rural counties,” said Mr. Krebs, who owns a farm in Preble County.
Mr. Taft's aides are lobbying against the proposed changes. “The governor thinks we should give communities as many uses as possible for these dollars,” said Scott Milburn, the governor's spokesman.
Under a year-old state law, counties and other government or nonprofit groups can buy development rights to property or receive them as donations. The purchase doesn't change ownership of the land but restricts what can be done with it, even if it is sold.
Tom Spellmire, a farmer who works 2,200 acres outside Mason in Warren County, said developers are distorting the issue. If $200 million has to be shared among a variety of programs and spread throughout the state, that likely wouldn't leave much for farmland preservation, he said.
“We've always felt we would be lucky to get 10 percent,” said Mr. Spellmire, a member of the Governor's Farmland Preservation Task Force. “But it might be enough to target prime tracts of farmland for preservation.”
The chairman of the Finance Committee, Rep. Robert Corbin, R-Centerville, said his office has been bombarded with telephone calls and letters from both sides since the Home Builders Association floated its amendment last week.
Fred Dailey, director of the Ohio Department of Agriculture, called Friday to urge Mr. Corbin to leave farmland preservation in the language of the ballot initiative.
While the Ohio Farm Bureau hasn't taken a position on the overall proposal, it wants to “keep all the potential uses in the mix,” said Keith Stimpert, one of the bureau's lobbyists.
“We're getting a lot of pressure right now,” Mr. Corbin said. “All I can tell you is it (the amendment) is being considered. We haven't come to any conclusions yet.”
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