Here’s a resolution to approve two applications to the USDA Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program: [link]

And here’s a resolution to approve purchase of a vacant property off Orkney, inside the city, that will provide access to the Bluffs Nature Area from the west side: [link] Access to the Bluffs Nature Area is challenging, because from the east, it rises pretty steeply off North Main.

[The city of Ann Arbor's open space and parkland preservation millage can be used for both these purposes.]

My comments weren’t meant to diminish the work done by the area land conservancies. They have done tremendous work including securing the development rights to the David Braun property across the road from the larger Braun properties. But it’s only been with the passage of the city’s millage that large blocks of farmland in Washtenaw County have been secured through the PDR programs. The land conservancies have and continue to play a role in those efforts. But the land conservancies by themselves could not have achieved the level of success that’s come with the city and township PDR programs.

I know I have the old township master plan in my files but I don’t have it handy. I thought the Braun property was master planned to allow residential development at a higher density than 1 unit per 10 acres. Perhaps not. In any case, the 2001 master plan made no real effort towards farmland preservation and the absence of such a plan left the township open to legal challenges where a judge could have permitted a higher density development. That kind of legal challenge was part of the Colt Farms effort to have the property rezoned as were similar projects that were being pushed in Webster and Superior townships.

“… the Greenbelt provided an option for farmers and land owners that simply doesn’t exist in other communities.”

Actually if by “the Greenbelt” you mean the local application of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service’s Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program, which is what the city and the surrounding townships are using, its has been a federal program since 1996. So all communities theoretically have access to it, assuming they meet the criteria.

“Absent the Greenbelt,…”

Many other land conservation programs that focused on farmland and open space have existed in this area, and across the country, dating back to the 1960’s. The Southeast Michigan Land Conservancy dates back to the 1980’s and the Legacy Land Conservancy dates back to the 1960’s under another name.

“If the Brauns had sold out to a developer who was willing to develop the property under the township’s previous master plan…”

In this case the masterplan does not ‘foresee’ a different future for this lot than its past, which is general agriculture A-1, which has a 10 acre minimum for any use. And there are few uses that might attract developers other than residential. Also, if we throw away 10% for internal roads, and assume that some of the land is unbuildable because it has a wetland then we have only a few available lots. This is not much to sell to a developer who wants to build by right.

I thought I recalled that at least part of it is being farmed by young vegetable entrepreneurs now. I won’t disgrace myself further by suggesting another name.

This may be true for some development projects but not so much for the Braun’s project, which was called Colt’s Farm. As I understand it this land was eyed for development prior to 2001, when applications began to be submitted. It planned to cram 1,300 pre-manufactured homes onto 285 acres of land, which would have resulted in houses on less than .2 acre sites (that’s ‘point two’ as in close to an 1/8th of an acre). MDEQ was not on board, nor was the township. The township was asked to change its zoning. Once the township denied the re-zoning the Brauns and the developer sued the township. That fight did not go the Braun’s way and the project was stopped. Ms. Braun also lost her seat as Township Clerk as a result of the struggle in the 2004 election. There was also an attempt to revive the project in 2006 which did not get much traction.

Fast forward to the end of 2008 and you now find the Brauns wanting to protect the development rights of the property. So after trying real hard to develop this property for about 10 years they now wanted to sell the development rights to the USDA.

It can be inferred from the quoted paragraph above that farmers can get to a point where they want to farm but don’t have the ability to meet their financial obligations; having no alternative but to sell the land to a developer. However in this case I did not see the property owners looking for an alternative to development. They did not embrace the land preservation approach or the Greenbelt until after they pushed and fought for something that was quite the opposite, and failed to get what they wanted.

BTW Ms. Armentrout, just for clarity, this property is located on the west side of Whitmore Lake Road, south of Joy Road.

Still, I think some numbers are needed to substantiate some of the claims being made.

We have several decades of sprawl growth in and around Ann Arbor to see how the pre-Greenbelt status quo approach that you advocate for played out. While it may be too early to declare the Greenbelt approach a complete success, it’s achieved far more towards controlling sprawl than anything else that was tried the 40 years previous to it. To Vivienne’s question, there are several known development projects that did not proceed because the Greenbelt and associated efforts provided an alternative for farmers and land owners to consider and because the townships embraced the land preservation approach that the Greenbelt promoted. These include the proposal for developing the Charles and Catherine Braun farm in Ann Arbor Township. Pre-Greenbelt, these properties likely would have been developed in some manner that would have resulted in greater urban sprawl outside the boundaries of the city.

This township contains some of the world’s richest farmland (not unlike that surrounding Ann Arbor) and the book looks at how township chairman Mike Saunders, and a group of highly engaged farmers, devised of a master zoning plan to zone out real estate speculators/developers with some very interesting and counter-intuitive changes to the existing zoning plan.

So it can be done. The end of cheap oil will do the rest, but will also keep us from reclaiming the farmland lost to sprawl once we figure out what a mistake it was to pave it in the first place.

As JH Kunstler says, “History does not care if a town makes terrible decisions.”