Developer proposes moving horses' graves... TOPIC MORPH TO LAND CONSERVATION

[JSwan]

Bless you stegall!!!

I’m clambering up on my soapbox again just to chime in and say - doing the right thing doesn’t have to cost a lot of money. We all have a lot of demands on our time and wallets and darn it - we really want to ride our horses!

Please don’t think that I spent a lot of money conserving my land. I didn’t have any money. All I had was the desire.

Setting aside and protecting habitat can be as simple as not mowing everything to a nub. Leaving some brush piles in the woods. Planting a native species instead of a hothouse flower. Supporting your local park or land trust or other group.

It starts at home. Teeny tiny things. You don’t have to go off-grid or wear Birkenstocks and stop shaving your legs.

We all want a place to ride our horses, to show them, stable them and land to feed them. A trail ride in the park is much more enjoyable if there are birds and other critters about. Your horse is healthier if you can get locally grown good quality hay. That takes land and nutrient management. And I know for a fact we all breathe a little easier and are much happier when we get to the barn and see our horse!

So it is all connected. Lead by example.

I’m such a sap - I even have my National Wildlife Federation Backyard Wildlife Habitat certficate framed.

[JSwan]

Bleh - I KNOW people that went native. Really. Armpit hair, no soap, deoderant, hairy legs - Birkenstocks - the whole nine yards.

Please please - anyone who has seen the light and is going to start a conservation plan for their community, or fight city hall on zoning - there is not need to go native. Really. If you must - at least wear a shirt with sleeves and cordon off the surrounding area.

Oy.

[Glimmerglass]

Of course least I fail to cite that the home of Man O’War was lost in the last couple years to developers too: GlenRiddle: Berlin, Maryland

Where now you too can leave your expensive ugly (yes, these are ugly McMansions!) Brady Bunch house and drive your golf cart down the former galloping trails to the former pastures of War Admiral and Man O’War to what the world needs more of … two golf courses.

You know golf courses, those faux “greenspace” concepts that actually suck down more water resources then any pasture ever would and require tons of chemicals. Oh boy! What fun!

quote: “Fortunately, the GlenRiddle Training Stable, which included stalls, and an indoor exercise track, remains structurally sound, and is currently being rebuilt as part of the GlenRiddle Golf Clubhouse.”

“In addition, the two golf courses are named Man O’ War and War Admiral.”

Isn’t that rich

[Windsor]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>
Let’s all make a resolution for the New Year, or even before, to support organizations dedicated to preserving farmland. Let’s join stegall and JSwan in the fight to protect the rural way of life. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Count me in!

[nightsong]

Like J Swan said, Poor Planning and Zoning is a MAJOR part of these farms going up in smoke. You know what? Planning and zoning is done (or NOT done, in MANY cases…) by YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS. Get busy there, folks!!! You CAN stop it!!! Elected officials have TOTAL CONTROL over what is done to land. Really.

[nightsong]

Poltroon is right, when you can see such things as stop lights and widened roads, BEWARE!!! And, the SINGLE MOST IMPORTANT THING in predicting development: SEWER LINES!!! Watch where they’re going in, and you can be PRO-ACTIVE in PREVENTING NIGHTMARES!!! Just my two cents’ worth…

[lee]

This is depressing. Sprawl is a plague, and it’s horrible to see what’s happening to beautiful countryside here on the East Coast - Virginia, southeastern PA…

And to top it off with moving graves of great racehorses so you can build a mall, and then planting them in the place so folks can gawk at them while eating Chik-Fil-A’s and Cinnabons

Check out the Equestrian Land Conservation Resource…is a great land conservation organization: http://www.elcr.org/.

[Snowbird]

The problem here Stegall is it is a permitted use to develop it. It’s too late for the Zoning Board or even the Planning Board but the Township Committee MIGHT make a change if there was a huge noise. Unlikely, because the development provides additional tax revenue.

You’d have to have a large committee of interested citizens camping out on the lawn of Town Hall to make the Township require moving the remains of horses at the expense of the contractor if he already has his approvals.

Or the interested could raise the money privately to remove the horses and reintere them. I wonder if the Kentucky Horse Park has thought of that use for some of their vacant land? Finding a place for them won’t be easy.

If you had a place and the money then perhaps you could get a stay from the courts.

[stegall]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> I guess we can’t be naive enough to expect things never to change. But this type of change is so ugly I can’t bear to watch anymore <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I was at the same point a few years back. I decided I couldn’t stand any more. So, I rolled up my pantlegs and jumped into the pool. I have been advocating ever since.

For all those here who lament the fact that we are losing land (and this is in EVERY state I might add), if nothing else, please consider doing just one thing: become a member of those organizations that are out there fighting to stop this travesty. There are many of them. They not only need your dues, but your numbers. When they speak to legislators, they can say that they represent 600, 6,000, 60,000 people who care strongly about this problem.

Don’t forget, as they go, we go. Every farm lost resonates. As horse owners, we will eventually feel the pinch, we lose trails, hay and grain prices go up, and we are nore often surrounded by condos instead of other types of agriculture. Sit and think for a minute about how many products you use in your barn that are agricultural in some way. The obvious: hay,grain. How about shavings, and fence boards? leather tack? Cotton wraps? wool blankets? Make a mental list, it may surprise you.

OK, you obviously all know how very passionate I am about this issue. I don’t meant to preach to the choir, as I know most here probably do care that this is happening.

So, let me just issue this challenge: for the new year, would you all at least join one organization that is battling this problem?
There are multitudes out there. Many offer great perks too, such as interesting magazines or newsletters, and fun tee shirts

Its too late to save the graves of those great horses, but maybe your dollars could help save something else…

Oh, and a special round of applause for J Swan, who took responsiblity and set up a conservation program on her farm to provide wildlife habitat, and THEN was nice enough to share with others on COTH so they could do this too…

[JSwan]

Ducks Unlimited basically is a group of sportsmen/hunters/conservationsists that protect land. They like land that supports bird/game life. So wetlands, riparian areas, wildlife corridors, etc.

On a national level - take a look at the American Farmland Trust.

Local land trusts are your local contact - I don’t know about your area specifically - so I can’t help.

[Glimmerglass]

The PEC as I recall wasn’t exactly been against the Salmander Inn which no one can say is in the best interest of Middleburg from an environmental standpoint

That aside …

What tends to be the most insidious of all actions eroding a way of life are the little movements, the sprawl factor as has been consistently cited. It is isn’t so much the mega projects as they are a lightening rod and often easily motivate the average guy to take a stand against it.

Case in point: the Disney America project of a decade ago on Route 66, No. Va. I would be hard pressed to name one person in favor of it then (save for the land holders selling out and construction folks) and certainly not a sole today.

Contrast that to say Middleburg today which is slowly (or rapidly depending on the view) seeing land sliced up little by little for oversized homes on smaller plots and visible on the landscape. No one is trying to stop those homes from changing the look and feel. Other activities quickly proceed without objection. No restrictions have existed to John Kent Cooke’s Boxwood Winery commercial venture at what had been a very quiet, private manor house owned for many years by the Stephen C. Clark, Jr. family.

At some point people will look around and wonder why so much speedy traffic will be found near the Hill School. A way of life which was simplicity away from living in the long since Urbanized area of Alexandria is slowly becoming the norm in the capital of hunt country.

As cited above, I won’t even touch the whole Salamander Inn project.

The “big city” of Warrenton is growing by leaps and bounds with whatever farm land left being gobbled up. While I don’t know this man from Adam - and I don’t live in Fauquier Co. - I did appreciate what he was saying in his own word about how development is ruining the area: Citizen 09/09/04 Letter to the Editor: What we cherish about Fauquier faces extinction

[stegall]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> One thing that I thought was GREAT when I bought my property was that among the disclosures was a “Right To Farm” statement that basically said the County of Mendocino is dedicated to preserving farmland and so my neighbors could be stinky and noisy and have animals all they wanted, and that by signing this form I acknowledged that I had been informed of this. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE> <<<

HOLY great idea Batman! Poltroon, thanks for that tidbit. I am relatively certain there are not any towns in CT that currently do this. We have a Right to Farm Law here. I am going to call the FB office tommorrow and tell them about this, and see if we can’t come up with a creative way of making it happen for rural towns here.

This is one of the reasons I LOVE this BB, so many great thinkers and exchanges of ideas.

And, thanks for offerig to buy my book, you can be my greatest (and only) fan…

[Giddy-up]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Bea:
Giddy-up, if your village is anti-spawl. And yet the option for farmers in the village is to sell out to developers. And your village government possibly doesn’t understand the above economic equation of developed land vs farmland/open space. It sounds to me as if you could do a great service by developing partnerships with land conservation groups who have access to funds to purchase development rights. Which might allow the farmers to remain on their land, and your village to avoid the high costs of development. I’m sorry if that sounds like I’m dissing your village, which I’m sure is a wonderful place. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Not insulted at all. People feel differently about things & that’s what makes the world go round.

Sprawl is what we are avoiding. By grouping homes together in the Village limits, we are leaving open land in unincorporated (County). It’s the “luxury” subdivisons (again located in unincorporated County–not our jursidiction) that offer large size lots (couple acres or larger) that spread out the homes & create sprawl that you have to drive further & further to get to anything. What is better for open space/sprawl prevention–to have 10 homes on 100 acres or 100 homes on 100 acres with designated open space & smaller lot sizes (I don’t even know if these numbers are feasible, just throwing out for an example).

Our Village isn’t leaving the farmers no option except to sell out. Developers look around, they notice growth trends, they see where the Village wants to grow & how zoning wise(residential v/s commercial), they approach Farmer & offer XXX amount of dollars cause they think his land is most promising. It’s not the Village’s fault–we can’t buy up all the farm land for open space cause what we would pay v/s a developer doesn’t compare. It’s not the Developer’s fault for being a smart looking ahead business minded person. You can’t blame the Farmer when he hears how much $$$ is being offered & how it could change his life, especially if he was thinking of retiring soon anyways. That’s why our Village in annexation agreements (this farm land is not in the Village limits, it’s adjacent to which is why else we have no control) and in subdivison approvals there is set land allotments for open space, school, etc… in addition to impact fees for various (road, schools, fire, police, etc…). So yes, in a way undeveloped land is “cheaper”, but since growth is happening, it may as well be on our terms. And believe me, even though we are a “puny little hick town” (yes have been called that), we have no problem telling the likes of some very big companies (Pulte, Centex, Kennedy, Metra railroad come to mind) it’s “our way, NOT your way”.

As for land conservation groups, we are involved with them. EventerAJ has mentioned Kane County (which has it’s own set of development rules which are not as strict as our Village)–they have open space programs as do the townships. Problem is people have different opinions on what “open space” is–some people think natural land untouched, some think land with trails on it (like a Forest Preserve) & some think ball fields as they have grass and are open space. That’s a whole other can of worms.

I know this probably doesn’t make much sense as it’s much more than just a farmer selling land to a developer & wah-lah…end of deal there is Wal-Mart on your corner. I will say though these things don’t happen overnight (all sorts of public hearings to occur for zoning changes & so forth) & may be in the planning stages for months before it even goes anywhere. People can get involved if they want–most just choose not to as they welcome the convienence of having shopping close by while experiencing “country” living. Case in point: shopping is 10/15 minutes drive away from our Village. We have no big box stores yet, just a small town Main Street with those types of shops. This is how it’s been. Yet the first thing new residents ask is when is Jewel coming on the corner so we don’t have to drive so far? Hello–did they not look where they were moving to prior?

[stegall]

Ha, you thought I was gone, but I had to come back…Just thought I wouldn’t drop a suggestion and then leave.

For those of you who may be interested, here are some links. One is a link to the CT Ag in the classroom paper on some of our activities, the next is the AFB ag in the classrooom link so you can find your own state program.

Finally, the last link is my most favorite. For those of you interested in contacting your legislators, here is a place to search to find them. WARNING: this link contains every link you ever wanted for the US government. Be prepared for some serious surfing here, but its well worth it.

http://www.ruralct.org/docs/success7_01.pdf

http://www.ageducate.org/links/states_A-C.html

http://www.firstgov.gov/

[Glimmerglass]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by hitchinmygetalong:
"Madden said yesterday that he intends to relocate the farm’s horse graveyard from a hard-to-reach plot just off Winchester Road to a more prominent spot within the shopping center.

“We’re going to move it and integrate it, making it more accessible to the general public,” Madden said. “I haven’t studied to the point that we know where the best place would be.” <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I saw that comment too and was frankly repulsed. Graves are not circus attractions, period. I believe strongly in the notion of sacred earth and the need for a quiet, private final resting place - not next to the Starbucks or McDonalds!

These horses made a fortune (small or otherwise) for his family back in the day and they deserve a hell of a lot better then to be prominently located in a freaking shopping center.

How about this guy use a bit of his newly found coin from the great sellout and buy some secluded, but small land in say Versailes for these horses to rest on? All due respect, but thats the very least Madden could do

[JSwan]

I don’t mean to jump all over developers as individuals - merely as a cog in the wheel of sprawl. The other cogs are demand by consumers, poor planning and zoning, short sightedness, the big box retailers - it’s just such a big old complicated mess - you can’t blame only one segment.

However - may I say that the developer lobby is an extremely powerful one in my state - too powerful. It’s very disturbing to me as a resident of this Commonwealth. Retailers and developers are constantly winning zoning battles that they never should have won - there are a lot of politics involved. Meaning money.

Thank you stegall - for the applause. But I don’t deserve it. The kudos go to the ones who made just conservation programs possible. American Farmland Trust, Ducks Unlimited, the Farm Service Agency/USDA, among others. I merely took advantage of programs that enabled me to do the right thing. Now I just preach about it!

In this case - looking at the article - it looks like this guy is the last holdout in the immediate area. Perhaps he has made a lot of money on land speculation - but it looks like this one is just being boxed in with nowhere to go.

Perhaps he would have been interested in a Charitable Remainder Unitrust to avoid some tax liabilty and still protect his land. But we’ll never know.

There are MANY MANY MANY options to selling out - even for land rich cash poor farmers.

Please support conservation programs however you can. Because it ain’t farmland without farms.

[jetjocky]

Short term profit wins again.

[JSwan]

Windsor -
Look into the Piedmont Environmental Council, American Farmland Trust, Land Trust of Virginia - I’ll try and think of some others. I’m perimenopausal and have no memory. lee posted above and had some good ones.

Also - this is kind of a tangent here - but a fantastic method of conservation is planned giving. That’s what I used to do. You can leave money in your estate plan (will/trust/whatever), depending on your age and financial plan you can create a charitable gift annuity, deferred gift annuity, Charitable Remainder Trust/Unitrust - there are many ways of giving that you can defer till your death, until a certain age and claim income and or estate tax benefits. (the estate tax monster comes back in 2010.)

There are also charitable gift funds available through Fidelity and other investment companies as well as some conservation groups that offer such a fund.

All these options are tax free money makers for the conservation group, yet provide revenue for ongoing efforts, as well as provide tax benefits for the donor.

A win -win situation for everyone. You can also give gifts of appreciated stock/mutual fund shares. Something to think about this time of year - very simple to do.

I have to say that I’m not against development. Folks deserve a decent place to live. But I think we’re all being sold a bill of goods. Know what I mean? Bigger. Faster. More. Shinier. I don’t think it’s healthy emotionally of physically for us.

[BelladonnaLily]

Good developers develop to benefit the community and preserve farm land. My boss is a developer. HATES Walmart, for good reason. Won’t bring a Walmart in to any of his developments. Loves farmland and seeks to put all of these people rushing in to our area in smaller places instead of spreading them about on 5-10 acres plots, thereby destroying more farmland. Not ALL development is bad. ALL Walmarts are bad, however. Bad for communities. And they’ve pushed more landowners out unethically than probably all of the other big box chains put together.

DISCLAIMER: I AM ON SERIOUS DRUGS. WISDO(M TEETH REMOVQAL. I’m sure this was clear as mud.

[Magnolia]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR> It’s the “luxury” subdivisons (again located in unincorporated County–not our jursidiction) that offer large size lots (couple acres or larger) that spread out the homes & create sprawl that you have to drive further & further to get to anything. What is better for open space/sprawl prevention–to have 10 homes on 100 acres or 100 homes on 100 acres with designated open space & smaller lot sizes (I don’t even know if these numbers are feasible, just throwing out for an example).
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Down here, those large lot subs are getting much less popular. People don’t want to cut grass. We routinely advise against that type of development - and we consult with the developers on maximizing their profits - not on smart growth.

Down here in Charlotte, I’m amazed at the market for urban condos and town homes and luxury zero lot line homes. Blown away by what people will pay to live close to the city, provided the space is fancy, they get 2 parking spaces and the neighborhood has a Starbucks. The last group of people we need are those with kids… but our schools just aren’t solid enough to prevent them from moving out to Ye Olde Riding Trails subdivision… and many of those singla family homes are rapidly devaluing due to over supply. I’m hoping sprawl will lose steam in my neck o’ the woods…