December, 1999

BOONE COUNTY MAY BUY RIGHTS FOR DEVELOPMENT

By Therese Michels

Daily News Correspondent

BELVIDERE - A new 50 year comprehensive plan may be just the tool to make farmland preservation more than a dream in Boone County.

David Sliktas, Director of Planning for Boone County, said the plan took two years to develop at a cost of about $107,000, but Sliktas said it was worth the wait and the cost.

The highlight of the plan is a strong commitment to control land use as it applies to developing what is now farmland, he said.

Boone County is currently covered by about 80 percent agricultural land, he said, and the plan provides that even 50 years down the road, 65 percent of the county will remain farmland. The 65 percent figure is calculated in spite of projected population increases from 30,806 to 200,000 in 50 years.

The endeavor to preserve farmland in such an aggressive manner, however, will not be easy, Sliktas said. Since developers often offer farmers more money for their land than it would be worth as farmland, farmers often sell to developers. Boone County's concept is to buy development rights so the land may never be used for anything but agriculture.

Of course, buying development rights is a costly effort, and the county has begun looking for ways to raise the money. Sliktas said Boone County has been actively involved in discussions at the state level that may help change the laws guiding impact fees. As the law stands now, governmental bodies cannot impose impact fees on developers so the county can buy the development rights on other parcels. Boone County officials, seeing the need to preserve the land, are working to change that.

If legislation is changed the way Sliktas and others hope, Boone County will begin a program in which developers will be charged an impact fee on development with that money used to make up the cost difference to a farmer selling his land for agricultural use instead of development. The development rights, once bought, will be held by a local grange, and the land will remain agricultural.

"We're taking kind of a bold step and a leadership approach in the state," Sliktas said. He said that the current practice of controlling land use through zoning does not work. "Zoning is only a holding pattern."

He said the county would not buy all of the development rights, but just those that apply to areas that would stop a drive in building through designated areas.

Sliktas also said the plan took two years to finish because of the tremendous input by residents and village governmental bodies all over the county. "We wanted to involve the people as much as possible. The plan more closely represents the feelings of the people who live here," he said.

The final copies of the plan are currently being processed. Minor changes initiated by some of the municipalities involved will be seen in the final copies, which Sliktas said he expects sometime in January.