Farm Preservation Easements

From 1982 to 1997, 384 Allegheny County farms disappeared, resulting in a net loss of 10,000 acres of farmland. Because many of the lost farms were architecturally significant and more than a century old, the Pittsburgh History & Landmarks Foundation and the Richard King Mellon Foundation committed resources to address this issue in a cost-effective way. The result was Landmarks’ Historic Rural Preservation Program.

The Program primarily involves the protection of Allegheny County’s historic and/or architecturally significant rural buildings and properties threatened by commercial and residential development, primarily by placing easements on these properties that help to maintain the agricultural focus of the property or permit an appropriate adaptive reuse of the property.

The Program also informs farmers about ways they can realize the value of their historic farms without having to sell their property to commercial developers. Options include:

• the sale or gifting of their farm development rights,
• gifting the property to Landmarks in return for a life-income arrangement and
• employing creative development strategies that allow the historic property to be integrated into a “rural-friendly” development.

The Historic Farm Preservation Program has played a significant role in the protection of five historic farm complexes and more than 1,000 acres of adjoining farmland.

Even In the Country, Protecting the Places That Make Pittsburgh Home (and Deterring Sprawl)

When Lucille Tooke gave her farm to a charitable remainder trust to benefit Landmarks in late 2000, she had no idea that her gift would lead to the creation of our Historic Farm Preservation Program and motivate a local foundation to make a major grant that helped us preserve five additional farms with historic buildings and more than 1,300 acres of farmland.

Landmarks believed that, like Mrs. Tooke, many local farmers were concerned about rising taxes and urban sprawl, factors that have played a significant role in the loss of nearly half of Allegheny County’s farms between 1982 and 2002. For multi-generational family farmers, we believed that planned gifts and preservation easements provided an alternative to selling historic farms to the highest bidder, usually a commercial developer.

A major local foundation granted $500,000 to us to find out if we were correct. By the close of 2003, Landmarks had added another $600,000 to that total and achieved the following results:

• Used bargain sale and gift strategies to leverage the $1.1 million to protect numerous historic structures and accompanying land valued at more than $6 million;
• Preserved 1,378 acres of farmland and four farms, three of which are listed on, or eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places;
• Returned a 20-parcel subdivision to a single parcel next to one of those farms;
  Partnered with South Fayette Township to explore a “Smart Growth” plan that could become a model for adapting land and historic farm structures into a development plan that conserves the land and also farming;
• Obtained a precedent-setting legal ruling that opened the door for Landmarks to assume a mortgage when commercial lenders refuse to subordinate their note to our preservation easement;
• Provided The Allegheny Land Trust with a grant to underwrite closing costs on the purchase of a 212-acre parcel of land that was once part of several adjoining historic farms in Monongahela, PA, bordering the river
• Made available to Allegheny County $15,000 for a revolving loan fund to cover reimbursable appraisal expenses for farmers who apply for the Agricultural Land Preservation Program of the Commonwealth; and
• Generated significant publicity that notified farmers that they have choices beyond commercial development.

While Landmarks currently has no funding to purchase preservation easements, we still accept them by gift, and we remain committed to finding creative ways to protect historic farm buildings and adjoining land whenever possible. Owners of historic farms in and around Allegheny County are encouraged to contact Landmarks to discuss their preservation goals.