DATE:     12/4/00 
CONTACT:  Bob Becker, (864) 656-0227 
          Dr. Gene Cornett, (864) 297-30071 
WRITER:   Diane Palmer, (864) 656-4741 

Upstate Forever 
promotes preservation 
      
     GREENVILLE -- Are you concerned about that strip mall or 
subdivision being built next door? Are you worried about protecting 
the beauty and integrity of your own property? 
     Upstate Forever and Foothills Resource Conservation and 
Development Council are trying to protect some of the Upstate's 
most scenic views from urban sprawl. They co-sponsored a conference
Nov. 14 at the Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville, with landowners 
and real estate developers, to encourage conservation easements.
     The easements encourage landowners to voluntarily give up 
some of their property rights in order to have a say in future
development. In return, property owners receive significant tax 
breaks.  
     To determine the value of the easement donation, the owner 
has the property appraised both at its fair market value without 
the easement restrictions and at its fair market value with the
easement restrictions. The difference between these two appraised
values is the easement value.  
     "Conservation easements respect the private property rights 
of individuals. But, even more importantly, they maintain a 
person's intent for the use of their lands," said Bob Becker, 
Clemson University's director of the Strom Thurmond Institute 
of Government and Public Affairs. "So, farm and forest landowners 
are freed from being taxed as if they owned residential
subdivisions or commercial property." 
     A conservation easement is a contract between the landowner 
and an organization like Upstate Forever in which the landowner
relinquishes some or all the rights to develop the property. It 
does not open up private property to public use. It is for the
landowners to decide if they want to allow any public use of 
the property.
     When you donate a conservation easement to a land trust, 
you permanently give up some of the rights associated with the 
land. For example, you might give up the right to build additional
residences, while retaining the right to grow crops. Future owners 
also will be bound by the easement's terms, and the land trust 
is responsible for making sure the easement's terms are followed.
     Conservation easements are flexible and can be tailor-made to 
meet the needs of the landowner. 
     Wyche gave an overview of conservation easements. Becker, 
Gene Cornett, president of Greenville Farm Bureau and Tom Garrison,
owner of Denver Downs Farm, talked about growth patterns in the
upstate. 
     The 4,500 square mile area that includes the counties of 
Greenville, Spartanburg, Pickens, Anderson, Laurens, Cherokee 
and Oconee Counties is one of the fastest growing areas of the 
country, according to Becker.
     More than a million people live in the region, and the 
population grows by 31 persons per day. Each day new development
consumes another 50 acres of land.
                              END