Local Easement Stories
Cliff Miller
Mount Vernon Farm
In 2003, my family put 604 acres of the farm we have been actively farming since 1827 into a permanent easement with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation. As representatives of the fifth and sixth generations to own this land, we did so with reverence and sober consideration in a process that was years in the making but obviously became important to do in the last several years! My great-great grandfather bought the original land in 1827 from the Reverend Francis Thornton—519½ acres north of the Thornton River and encompassing much of Turkey Mountain. Over the years we have added to the holding, growing to more than 875 acres. Today we own approximately 825 acres that wraps around Sperryville’s north and east sides.
When Bob Dennis first approached my father and me more than 25 years ago, we were not enthusiastic, primarily because we did not want to limit the options of future generations, including my own. Although we were active in the financial management of the farm, we lived in Richmond and were here mainly on weekends. In 1990 I spent several years looking more closely at the farm and the Sperryville area. I became even more involved after 1997, at my father’s death, and in 2002 moved here full time. It was at that point I really understood what a uniquely special place Rappahannock is and how far-sighted yet fragile our political, social, and environmental planning is. It became clear that the land we owned was important to the future of the area and that forces were building that made protecting the land urgent. Through a combination of good planning and good luck, Rappahannock has preserved its rural integrity. My family was deep in the fabric of the land and we needed to do our part now.
Most of our farm is in a limited liability company (LLC). There are seven members representing the fifth and sixth generations who own the assets of the LLC. As manager, I have relatively broad powers, but placing an easement on the land is not one of them. We have done some significant farm restructuring, and I have spent a great deal of time figuring out the best ways of making this property attractive for five more generations to enjoy and protect. I have also realized that future generations may choose to sell the farm and felt a responsibility to place some thoughtful limitations on the uses of it by future owners.
So, in the late spring of 2002, I began to explore with Leslie Grayson of VOF how to go about donating an easement. My core reason for doing it was because it seemed the right thing to do, but I knew I needed to understand the financial incentives and be able to present them to my fellow members. Initially I thought we would do a series of smaller easements over a longer period of time so as to use more of the incentives, but I soon realized we could craft one comprehensive document and still leave ourselves lots of flexibility. Every easement is unique, and ours is no exception. With our farm’s proximity to Sperryville, its having the Thornton River running through it, and its acreage on Turkey Mountain being very visible from the park, doing the wrong thing on this land would be felt well beyond the property itself.
I worked primarily with Leslie rather than through lawyers, and we adapted the standard form in a number of ways. I had one lawyer read through a draft when we were well along. Another lawyer did most of the property description work, and we had some survey work done to establish acreage. I attended several easement workshops put on by the Piedmont Environmental Council. I got an appraiser who specializes in easement properties, and he did a thorough job.
The financial numbers on a 600-acre parcel that is well placed are significant. As the major owner of the LLC, most of the tax benefits come to me, yet I will not be able to use many of them because I am not in that sort of financial position. All but one of my co-owners live outside of Virginia, and they can use the federal tax provisions. However, we all can use the very creative state provision that allows an owner to sell his or her unused tax credit—up to $100,000 per person per year for up to six years—to any other Virginia tax payer. The buyer of these tax credits should be willing to pay $70 to $80 to get a $100 deduction in taxes. On a large parcel, this can be a significant plus for the owner and the buyer of the credits. I expect to sell the credits myself and will assure the buyer that, if the credit is denied for some reason, I will return the buyer’s money.
I have found the easement process to be very pleasant: my fellow LLC members were unanimous in supporting the easement, the Virginia tax department was helpful, and VOF’s representative was outstanding. I believe we made our easement at the right time and encourage anyone wanting to take advantage of the opportunity to sell state tax credits to take action soon. It’s is a wonderful incentive for the farm family who wants to do right and also get a fair compensation—a benefit the continuation of which is at the pleasure of the General Assembly!
Hal and Beverly Hunter
End of the Road
Bev Hunter and her dog, Casey, in their beautiful garden. Photo by Hal Hunter.
We bought our land in 1968, moved here in 1976, raised two kids (now in their thirties), and did not consider a conservation easement or land-use taxation until we joined RCCA in 2000.
We had read some pamphlets about easements years ago but didn’t consider our land important enough for an easement because it doesn’t have any division rights under the current zoning. After we became more involved with RCCA, we became more aware of the importance of providing a protected buffer along the Rappahannock River. So, we donated a conservation easement to VOF.
We had paid taxes at full market value for more than thirty years, and we didn’t pay for an appraisal before making the donation. The reason why we didn’t take advantage of the tax credits is because we didn’t donate the easement for financial benefit. We donated it because, like many other Rappahannock residents, we wanted to help preserve the rural and scenic character of the county. We wanted to plant a conservation battle flag in Amissville, where development threats are building, hoping that our neighbors would follow our example. Still, donating the easement reduced our taxes to about one-third of what we used to pay and had the added benefit of helping our local schools by increasing the state’s portion of funding for them.
Our land is small by VOF standards—35 acres—but located on the Rappahannock River, which is officially designated as a “scenic river.” (It has a cave that a Civil War draft dodger used to escape his military obligations, which may have added some cachet in the eyes of VOF, but probably not.)
The steps to a donation were few and painless. Fellow Rappahannocker and easement expert Bob Dennis came over on a Sunday afternoon to talk us through the process. Then we checked with the kids, who thought it was a great idea to keep the place the way they remembered it growing up. After that, Kirstin, a friendly, overworked person from VOF, walked the boundaries with us and took some photos. Sharon Luke, a neighbor before she married Peter Luke and moved to F.T. Valley, drew up the legal papers—all boilerplate because there were no tax implications in the donation. We added a plat and some real estate records, and we were done.
As a nice addendum, at RCCA’s next annual meeting we had dinner as the organization’s guests because we were easement donors.
Monira Rifaat
Manor Farm
Monira Rifaat with her cattle on Manor Farm.
My home, Manor Farm, is a working cattle farm in Rappahannock County. This beautiful land—with its streams, rivers, woodlands, and pastures—will be preserved in perpetuity. It will remain open land, undivided and undeveloped. I am not the first owner. Previous owners carved out this farm from a larger track of land. I am the first owner to protect the land and a stretch of the Covington River by entering into a contract with the Virginia Outdoors Foundation.
My plan was clear: keep the farm in agriculture, preserve the open land, and preserve the pristine Covington River. As owner and operator of this cattle business, I have worked to protect the streams and rivers by entering into contracts with the Commonwealth of Virginia and the federal government to fence the cattle out of streams and to plant riparian buffers. This area of Virginia is in the Rappahannock River watershed, the waters of which flow into the Chesapeake Bay.
My children and grandchildren will inherit the farm, and they support these conservation concepts. They can build a prescribed number of homes for themselves on the undivided land. The farm can also be sold, and buyers will be bound to the conservation easement in perpetuity.
The contract between the VOF and me is a document in which I have outlined my preferences. The VOF’s board of directors approved the plan, and the document is recorded in the courthouse.
This gift of development rights has federal and Virginia tax consequences. An appraiser determines the value of the land before and after the easement is placed on it. When the state calculates the Local Composite Index for Rappahannock County, it accepts the valuation of my acres at land-use value (which is the same as land under conservation easement) and the land is taxed at land-use rates in perpetuity. This is extremely helpful to our local government, since it increases the state’s portion of funding for our schools.
I am hoping my neighbors will join me in this effort to preserve Rappahannock land.
Susan and Charley Strittmatter
Donating Our Easement—The More, the Merrier
We purchased our 50-plus acres of Rappahannock County around 1988, with plans to begin building our home in 5 years. Well, the draw of the beauty of the county was too strong. We moved in during the winter of 1992.
Our land is bordered by the Rappahannock River. Folks across the road from us border on the Jordan River. So, we have a stretch of about 6 miles of properties that have one of these rivers as a major influence on the nature of the land.
A friendly neighbor, dedicated to preserving land through conservation easements, worked on us (and residents along the entire road) for years. Our reservations came mostly in the form of a reluctance to tell our heirs what to do with the property. However, again the beauty of the county worked on us. The longer we lived here, the more we realized that, yes, we did want to tell our heirs what we wanted to have done with our property. We wanted the river and the land protected. We looked more seriously into it and, with the tax implications, felt that it was indeed time to proceed.
We began the conservation-easement process in 2000. The procedure was fairly simple. While we made some revisions to the standard form to allow for future farm structures, we did not realize the extent to which the terms could be negotiated. We had the help of a local attorney and hired an appraiser, but found the benefits far outweighed the costs.
In the 3 to 4 years since the easement sign was posted in a prominent place on our property, other properties around us have been placed in conservation easements. It had kind of a domino effect on our road. So, thanks to our friendly neighbor who kept encouraging all of us to take the step, our 6-mile stretch of Rappahannock County has only a few properties still unprotected— but, we’re working on them. After all, the more, the merrier.
