The Albemarle Agricultural-Forestal Districts Advisory Committee will meet at 5:30 p.m. in room 235 of the county’s office building at 401 McIntire Road. (agenda)
This time around, the group will discuss changes to the policy for review of districts and removal of parcels. The bottom-line is to increase the county’s tax revenue by removing certain properties from protection.
“Agricultural-Forestal Districts are a voluntary rural land conservation program in which landowners can limit the development potential of their land to help protect the rural landscape,” reads the memo from Scott Clark, the county’s conservation program manager.
This is a separate policy from the county’s land use taxation program where qualifying landowners with productive agricultural activity receive a lower assessment for the usable land. Clark writes that the only point of connection is that Virginia has mandated standards related to “open space” that automatically grant the lower assessment to land in Agricultural-Forestal Districts that would otherwise not qualify.
“This confers a private tax benefit with no corresponding public conservation benefit,” the staff report continues. “Responding to Committee and staff concerns about this issue, the Board of Supervisors clarified that parcels without small-lot development rights should no longer be accepted into the Districts.”
The change was made in 2018 and no new properties without development rights have been accepted. The question now is whether these properties should continue to be included in the ag-forestal districts when they are renewed. Six years later, staff wants further discussion and there will be a Board of Supervisors work session on May 15. The committee will be asked to review two options.
- Option One: Remove parcels that have no development rights and that are in the “open space” tax category from the Districts during reviews.
- Option Two: Remove all parcels without development rights from the Districts during reviews.
Before you go: The time to write and research of this article is covered by paid subscribers to Charlottesville Community Engagement. In fact, this particular installment is from the April 29, 2024 Week Ahead edition of the newsletter.
