PENNSYLVANIA Farmers lag in backlog for land preservation

A proposal would reduce the backlog of farms on the preservation list.
NAZARETH, Pa. (AP) -- Every summer, housing developers ask Robert Bieber if he'd be willing to sell his 88-acre farm north of Easton. His response is always the same: Not a chance.
"I don't know about you, but I still like the look of open space," said Bieber, 77, an alfalfa farmer who enjoys watching deer and wild turkey roam his property. "To me, that's worth more than anything in the world."
With its high-quality soil and a stream that feeds an important tributary, Bieber's Northampton County farm would seem a ripe target for conservation. But he has been unable to join Pennsylvania's farmland preservation program, despite applying on nine separate occasions.
Many more wait
Although Pennsylvania has bought the development rights to some 2,370 farms and 275,000 acres since 1989 -- more than any other state -- there are many more farmers who want to enroll than there is money to pay them. As a result, there is a backlog of about 1,800 farms waiting to be preserved, including Bieber's.
Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell recently proposed $800 million in new borrowing to pay for farmland preservation and a host of other environmental programs, but he faces resistance from Republican lawmakers who balk at its hefty cost.
The governor dispatched six top administration officials last week to promote the initiative, called Growing Greener, which was signed into law by former GOP Gov. Tom Ridge in 1999 and is due to expire this year unless the Legislature reauthorizes it. The proposal would then have to be approved by voters in a statewide referendum.
Growing Greener
Rendell wants a variety of new fees to pay for a four-year extension of Growing Greener, including higher levies on garbage haulers and industries that pollute. But Republicans say the fees would hurt the state's fragile manufacturing sector and, ultimately, consumers.
"Each person who has their trash picked up will only see their fees go up X number of dollars a year, but that's the tip of the iceberg of what the cost will be to the general public and the economy," said Sen. Robert J. Thompson, a Chester County Republican who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee.
It is unclear whether Growing Greener has worked to slow development. More than 42,000 housing permits were issued in Pennsylvania last year, about the same number as in 1999. But its supporters say there would have been even more development without Growing Greener.
Don Cunningham, secretary of the Department of General Services, said the burden of the higher fees proposed by Rendell would be far outweighed by the benefits of open-space preservation.
"The time to do something about these issues is now, rather than finding excuses not to do them," he said.
Cunningham was part of a Rendell administration team that logged 1,200 miles on a luxury motor coach and attended 15 public events last week to try to build support for the bond proposal.
At Bieber's
He and Agriculture Secretary Dennis Wolff rolled up to Bieber's farm last week, joining Bieber and local officials under a tent near Bieber's stone farmhouse.
Beverly Hoyer, chairwoman of Northampton County's farmland preservation board, said a new infusion of state money would allow the county to clear its backlog of 29 farms on the preservation list.
"We've had people on the phone crying to us" because they have been unable to sell their development rights to the state, she said. "These are heartbreaking phone calls."