Verdant Pact

TLC conserves 145 acres of prime agricultural lands at Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center Campus

Dr. Corinne Sweeney, Associate Dean for New Bolton Center and Gwen Lacy, Executive Director of TLC review the conservation plan for the campus.

With the recent signing of an agricultural conservation easement, The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County (TLC) and the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine has ensured that 145 acres of  Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center Campus will be protected from development and continue the area’s agricultural tradition.  TLC will administer the easement over its 25-year term.

“This was a wonderful opportunity for Penn Vet to continue the positive relationship we have with the Chester County community,” said Corinne Sweeney, associate dean for New Bolton Center. “The easement will help sustain the area’s long and proud agricultural heritage. We’re so pleased to be a part of it.”

The parcel of land placed under the easement — comprising nearly a quarter of the New Bolton Center’s 687-acre campus — is currently used as cropland and pastureland. The easement ensures that these traditional uses will endure, while restricting non-agricultural development.

Since 1952, Penn Vet’s New Bolton Center Campus, located in Kennett Square, Penn., has offered state-of-the-art veterinary services for large animals such as horses, cattle, pigs, goats and sheep. The campus is also home to a working dairy, a farrier and a traveling field service to offer veterinary care for individuals and farms in the nearby area. As a result, the School has formed strong ties to the Chester County agricultural community.

“The New Bolton Center Campus has been a staple of this community for generations,” said Gwen Lacy, executive director of The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County.  “We are thrilled to hold this easement on 145 acres of prime pasture and croplands.  It is reassuring to recognize that through this easement we all share a common vision of maintaining the rural integrity and the beauty of the landscape for years to come.”

Penn Vet will maintain ownership of the land, which is located along route 926 to the east of the main portion of the New Bolton Center Campus, while The Land Conservancy for Southern Chester County will hold the easement and act as a guardian of its provisions.

Now is the Best Time in History to Preserve your Land!

Tax Rates are higher than ever, but the good news is that favorable tax incentives and offsets for private landowners are the best that they have been in history - especially for working family farmers and landowners of modest means - who preserve their land with a voluntary conservation agreement.

But conservation minded landowners only have until December 31st 2013 to take advantage of the enhanced tax deduction. Note: Landowners must contact TLC by October 1st 2013 at the latest to begin the conservation process.

The enhanced incentive applies to a landowner's federal income tax. Specifically it:

• Raises the deduction a donor can take for donating a voluntary conservation agreement from 30% of their income in any year to 50%;
• Allows many farmers and ranchers to deduct up to 100% of their income; and
• Increases the number of years over which a donor can take the deduction from six to sixteen years.

TLC also has a Land Reserve Fund to assist landowners in the costs associated with conserving your land. Please contact Gwen Lacy, Executive Director of TLC at director@tlcforscc.org or call 610-347-0347 ext 102.