2005 News

March 16, 2005
COMMISSIONERS PRESERVE MORE FARMLAND IN SPRINGFIELD TWP.

The Bucks County Commissioners today preserved a 155-acre farm in Springfield Township, the third township farm in the county's Agricultural Land Preservation Program.

The nursery and crop farm on Shale Road is owned by Robert and Stephanie Zisko and is located adjacent to another farm in the program and two other farms the county hopes to preserve in the near future.

Once the owners apply for inclusion in the Agricultural Land Preservation Program, their farms are evaluated for soil quality, farming activity, productivity and proximity to other farms. Once approved and purchased, the owner's development rights will be "retired," allowing the farm to remain as farmland or open space forever.

Bucks County and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania are jointly purchasing an agricultural conservation easement on the Zisko farm for $7,000 per acre, or a total (easement) purchase price of $1,085,070. The cost is split evenly between Bucks County and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Farmland Preservation.

Commissioner Chairman Charles H. Martin noted that the county's successful farmland preservation effort is a voluntary program. Farmers need only to apply to the county to participate.

"Farming is a significant part of Bucks County's heritage and through the cooperation of landowners like the Ziskos, we are preserving a part of our history and saving precious open space," the chairman said.

At this time, there are 89 farms enrolled in the program that is under the direction of the Bucks County Planning Commission. Since 1990, the farmland preservation program has protected 8,169 acres from development and is on track toward reaching its goal of preserving 10,000 acres by 2007.