Monday, December 5, 2011

Preserve the Land, or Build On It?

The Central Indiana Land Trust received a grant of 40 acres from the Eller family. The land is located in fast-growing Fishers, IN, just north of Indianapolis. According to an article in the Indy Star, Van Eller turned down offers to sell to residential developers. (Between 2000 and 2007, Fishers' growth was more than double that of Indianapolis. Undeveloped farmland is very valuable to developers in high-growth areas.) Eller didn't want to see the land that had been in his family since the 1830s fall into the hands of suburb developers. Instead, he gave the land to the Central Indiana Land Trust. The 40 acres will become a nature preserve.
"Such land donations have become more popular since the downturn in the economy as property values have dropped and landowners seek to take advantage of federal tax breaks.
In Indiana over the past five years, there has been an increase of 64 percent in the acreage set aside for preservation, according to the first census of land trusts conducted on a national level by the Land Trust Alliance, which released its findings last month." (Indy Star). 

In an area like Fishers, which has experienced explosive growth and development (click here for a satellite view of the suburbs), preserving land is an important part of planning for a sustainable future. Fishers typifies many aspects of urban sprawl, defined thus by Wikipedia:
Urban sprawl, also known as suburban sprawl, is a multifaceted concept, which includes the spreading outwards of a city and its suburbs to its outskirts to low-density and auto-dependent development on rural land, high segregation of uses (e.g. stores and residential), and various design features that encourage car dependency.[1] ... The term urban sprawl generally has negative connotations due to the health, environmental and cultural issues associated with the phrase.
While building suburbs and roads as fast as possible may be immediately profitable, preserving areas of undeveloped land are important to the overall health of our communities and of our environment.

What do you think?

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2 comments:

  1. Nancy for VisionDecember 7, 2011 at 2:06 AM

    Even though our LaPorte County wouldn't be classified as such a high growth area as Fishers (the northeast suburban sprawl of Indianapolis), it's heartening to hear that there's been an increase over the past 5 years of approximately 60% more land being set aside for green infrastructure. "News and Information for SWCDs" presents hope for the future. I say let's preserve the land for a higher quality of life. Wouldn't it be great to see other individuals donate land for such a purpose in our county? Or what about a green lotto to set aside funds to purchase such land as it becomes available?

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  2. Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation DistrictsDecember 7, 2011 at 9:10 AM

    Thanks for your comment, Nancy! I feel like the majority of this blog's readership would agree that land preservation is more important than building. A quick Google search for "LaPorte County Land Trust" pulled up this: http://lpcct.org/trusts.html. I bet you could contact them for more info, or to share your ideas!

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