Land Savers

A ranking system provides a basis to explain which properties should be pursued for protection. The protection method may be fee simple acquisition (i.e., outright purchase) or, more commonly, conservation easement (which keeps the land in private ownership but extinguishes agreed-upon development rights).

The open space law noted above, Act 153, limits a municipality’s acquisition of property interests for open space purposes (as opposed, say, to public recreational purposes) to parcels “designated” for open space uses in an adopted plan. The legislation does not spell out the way that “designation” should be accomplished, but does require municipalities to establish a parcel ranking system.

Factors typically taken into account in designing an open space ranking system include:

whether the property meets one or more plan goals and objectives

potential risk of development

linkage potential

availability of supplemental funding sources, and

willingness of landowner to sell easement or fee below fair market price.

There are a variety of ways that municipalities have set up ranking systems. Some municipal open space plans list or map the tax map numbers of parcels for later ranking by the EAC. Others list the parcels together with their ranking scores, dividing them into levels of priority. Others simply list ranking criteria, leaving parcel identification and actual ranking to a later time.

See sample municipal ranking criteria:

Warwick Twp. Ranking Criteria Grading Systems (220K PDF File)

Upper Makefield Twp. Ranking Criteria (175K PDF File)

Haycock Twp. Open Space Plan Property Evaluation Form (440K PDF File)

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If, after plan adoption, additional properties are identified and deemed desirable for protection, the open space plan can be amended to incorporate the additional parcels.

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A public hearing will be held to present the plan to the community. Changes can be made if necessary, and the plan will then be adopted by the elected officials.

Implementation of the action items in the open space plan can be done by the same committee that oversaw its preparation. That committee should sequence and divide up the responsibilities, deciding who will approach and negotiate with which property owner, arrange for appraisals, handle presentations to the governing body, monitor the acquired properties or conservation easements over time, and do the myriad other necessary steps. (See an outline of Bedminster Twp. Land Preservation Program , 260K PDF File)

Often, a municipality will contract with a local land trust to perform all or some of these tasks. (See pages 20 –21 of Using Conservation Easements to Preserve Open Space: A Guide for Pennsylvania’s Municipalities, for more information on setting up a municipal open space program and working with land trusts.)

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