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Land Conservation

Martha’s Vineyard’s Land Bank

by Suzanne on March 6, 2009

The land of Martha’s Vineyard is precious. And the fact that so many people know this is both a curse and a blessing. The curse is simple: the more people that love this island and want to live here, the more homes that are built and the more land that is taken from its natural state. The blessing is also simple: good people come to this island, they love & support this island and they become part of the larger community.

Many of these people, over the years, have been forward thinking about how to pull these two sides together - one solution is the Martha’s Vineyard Land Bank Commission. “The land bank is a rare breed. Neither a sanctuary program nor a park system, it is a middle ground where the highest virtues of conservation can be realized: public enjoyment of nature, where limits and restraint secure the natural world’s future and prosperity.” (from the Land Bank’s website)

In essence, the Land Bank works like this. For every real estate transaction on the island, land or home, the buyer pays an additional 2% of the total price to the Land Bank. In turn, the Land Bank uses that capital to purchase and preserve undeveloped land on the island. The land bank, with the help of private conservation entities on the island, has a diverse mission and is able to reserve properties for wildlife, agriculture, hunting and/or many other types of conservation use. Of course, environmental protection tops the list of land bank goals and public use is encouraged wherever and whenever it’s possible.

I work closely with the Land Bank and have a thorough knowledge of the processes and procedures involved in purchasing property on the island. Walking you through these steps and sharing the importance of the Land Bank to our Vineyard community is integral to the process of working with Suzanne Lanzone & Daughters and essential to the conservation of our island home.

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The Importance of Land Conservation on Martha’s Vineyard

by Suzanne on February 16, 2009

In a poignant editorial, Brendan O’Neill - the executive director of the Vineyard Conservation Society - points out the severity of the land conservation versus development issue on the island. While over the last 100 years, about one third of the Island’s 60,000 acres have become legally protected as conservation land, another third remains unprotected.

O’Neill writes, ‘The dilemma is that not all the land that needs to be protected can be saved in time. The rate at which land is being developed is far outpacing the rate at which it is being conserved. In a build-out scenario under existing zoning, this could translate into several thousand new houses, a doubling of the year-round population, a spike in the summer population, and the necessity of providing the roads, sewers, municipal buildings and other infrastructure required to support a larger community.’

His call to action is for landowners to act, designating their private land for conservation restriction. He states that, “More than five thousand acres of private land have been protected by landowners in recent decades. That’s almost a quarter of the inventory of conservation land on the Island. Now is the time to repeat that feat.”

The steps to securing conservation land on the island are complicated involving donations, IRS rules and island government regulations - but they are entirely navigable and strategically put in place to help the island.

I am proud to be an expert in the fiduciary, legal and community procedures for land conservation on the Vineyard. And, I educate my clients on the benefits of land protection for themselves, for the island, for the world…and for the lifestyle of the Vineyard that we cherish.

O’Neill passionately includes, “There is general agreement that much of the Island’s remaining unprotected open land should be conserved if we wish to keep our water bodies, prime farm soils, scenic vistas, buffers around the Great Ponds and core wildlife habitat areas intact.”

And he quotes the founder of the Vineyard Conservation Society, Richard Pough, “If the natural beauty of Martha’s Vineyard is to be preserved, it will be the result of the combined action of the Vineyard landowners.” What was right on 40 years ago, stands true today.

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