Fighting the Lure of the Infinite: Lease Conservation Easements at the Urban Fringe

• Date: 01 July 2010

7-2010 NEWS & ANALYSIS 40 ELR 10687

Fighting the Lure

of the Inf‌inite:

Lease

Conservation

Easements at the

Urban Fringe

by Jacob T. Cremer

Jacob T. Cremer will join Hopping Green & Sams in

Tallahassee, Florida, as an associate this summer.



Today, local, state, and federal governments provide

incentives intended to conserve agricultural uses. One of

those incentives, the conservation easement, is ourish-

ing in both quantity and acres conserved. Perpetual con-

servation easements are generally assumed to be superior

to shorter term lease conservation easements because

of a preference for stronger, more permanent restric-

tions. Some commentators question the sensibility of

this preference, pointing out that citizens are most often

interested in conserving agricultural land on the urban

fringe. is type of land use is best conserved by lease

conservation easements, and least likely to be conserved

by perpetual conservation easements. Alternatives, such

as state and federal amendments allowing lease con-

servation easements to receive the same tax benets as

perpetual conservation easements, may allow for more

eective conservation of agricultural uses of land.

I. Agricultural Conservation

e future ain’t what it used to be.

1

It is a bad plan that admits of no modication.

 2

A. Whither Goes the Future?

Imagine the year is 2110. Your main concern as the vice

president of a design, planning, and construction rm is

to locate new master-planned communities. After studying

housing markets, demographics, and government amenabil-

ity to development, you select the sites for your company to

develop. While your design team works on site plans, you

negotiate with the landowners to acquire the land and with

government ocials to secure the necessary permits. You are

working on your newest project.

You predict that c entral Florida, between Orlando and

Lake Okeechobee, will see signicant economic growt h

over the coming decade. Traditionally the breadbasket of

Florida agriculture, Florida’s heartland has not grown any-

thing other than a backya rd garden in at least a generation.

Developing nations now grow the world’s crops much more

cheaply than Floridians ever could. ough some consumers

were at rst leery of African oranges, they could not resist the

low prices, and the state’s few remaining farms are little more

than boutique vineyards.

Despite predictions otherwise after the housing bust of

100 years ago, Florida saw even more explosive population

growth in the 21st century than it did in the 20th century.

e corridors along the state’s interstate system traverse what

from the air would look like a single metropolitan area span-

ning the entire state. While such growth would have alarmed

many 20th century Floridians, those today enjoy the met-

ropolitan atmosphere of their state, preferring to enjoy the

aordable open spaces of the many countries now specializ-

ing in ecotourism. Today’s Floridians have outsourced their

open space to pursue a highly specialized economy in an

attempt to compete with China, which long ago became the

world’s sole economic superpower.

Unlike the many redevelopment community builders in

Florida today, your company still specializes in what was

once known as greeneld development. You have located the

perfect site for your next community, but it seems too good

to be true. e 500-acre tract is surrounded on every side

1. A A  ., A I Q 473 (2003).

2. J B, F Q 896 (Blue Ribbon Books 10th ed.

1919) (referencing Maxim 469).

      



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