Agricultural Conservation Easements

An agricultural conservation easement is an approach to protecting farmland by permanently limiting future use of the property to agricultural or open space uses.  Conservation easement allow landowners to retain and protect the agricultural value or productivity of their farmland on a permanent or long-term basis while maintaining private ownership and economic use of the land. Agricultural conservation easements may take different forms, depending on whether they are initiated by the landowner as a private action or in response to public programs.

Approaches to Managing Community Growth and Change

Successful communities are created and sustained by careful planning that recognizes the need to incoporate change, development, and preservation. There are a wide variety of tools that communities may use to build their vision of a better tomorrow. This paper describes some of these tools, their strengths and weaknesses, and the kinds of tradeoffs involved when selecting one tool over another.

Commercial Activities in Agricultural Zones: Setting Parameters of Opportunity

Across Kentucky, farmers are being urged to diversify their enterprises by growing new crops, finding new ways to add value to their agricultural products, finding new ways to market their products, and developing new enterprises that capitalize on unique characteristics of their farm enterprises or their farm land. However, in communities with zoning ordinances that manage what happens in designated agricultural areas, some of these innovations challenge our conventional notions of what is an agricultural activity.

Frequently Asked Questions About Land Use Planning and Zoning

Information Sheet: How can a city adopt planning and zoning?

Land Use Planning and Zoning: Debating the Issues

Communities are continuously changing and many of these changes involve changes in the use of land. Changes in land use lead to uncertainty about how these changes will affect the community. Land use planning and zoning is a solution some suggest to manage growth and its consequences. This paper is designed to answer frequently asked questions regarding land use planning and zoning.

Property Rights and Agricultural and Environmental Concerns

Much of the debate about agricultural change, land use issues, and environmental concerns eventually end up addressing property rights. This paper provides a brief overview of property rights and how questions related to property rights influence the discussions of these critical social issues.

Protecting Agricultural Land

Many communities across Kentucky are struggling to address the consequences of changing land uses including the development of land for new subdivisions, shopping centers, manufacturing plants, landfills, or other urban uses. This publication will explore the debate over changing land uses, especially as they relate to agricultural lands.

Summary Overview Approaches to Managing Growth

This publication discusses some of the issues, advantages, and disadvantages of how to manage growth within the community.

Weighing the Trade-Offs in Adopting Land Use Planning and Zoning

This publication explores some of the issues and concerns that arise when a community considers adopting planning and zoning and identifies some of the trade-offs that must be addressed in this decision-making process.