Eliminating the fee for having land rezoned out a farmland preservation zoning district and eliminating the program for purchasing agricultural conservation easements

Also under current law, a political subdivision with a certified farmland preservation ordinance may not rezone land out of a farmland preservation zoning district unless the person who requested the rezoning pays a conversion fee equal to the number of acres rezoned multiplied by three times the per acre value of the highest value of cropland in the city, village, or town in which the land is located, as determined by the Department of Revenue for the purposes of use value assessment.

This bill eliminates the requirement that a person who requests that land be rezoned out of a farmland preservation zoning district pay a conversion fee.

Under current law, DATCP administers a program under which it, in conjunction with local governments and nonprofit conservation organizations, purchases agricultural conservation easements from willing landowners. An agricultural conservation easement requires that land covered by the easement be kept in agricultural use. Under the program, DATCP pays up to 50 percent of the cost of purchasing an easement and may pay up to the full amount of the related transaction costs, such as the costs of land surveys and appraisals.

This bill eliminates the program for purchasing agricultural conservation easements.