Woo Hoo finally our Farmland Preservation has gone through!!!!!

[Banshee]

And to celebrate I just booked a week stay at the Grand Floridian with the theme park view!!! I haven't told the kids yet trying to decide if I should leave it a surprise??? After everything my family has been through for the past 3 years I finally feel like we have some closure. I finally feel like I can let my parents go I was told by a physic that I was keeping thier spirits earth bound (oddly enough she hadn't been told that they had passed away.) I feel accomplished something my dad started years ago and made me promise that I would finish is done!!! I hope he is proud. The knot in my stomach and the constant feeling of dread and gloom is finally starting to lift that to me means more then anything. Just had to share!!

 

[Aisling]

Congratulations, but what's a Farmland Preservation??

 

[Banshee]

Farmland preservation is where you sell your building rights to your land to the state. That way it will always stay a farm! It is still your farm but you can't sell it to a developer and I can't build anything on it for non-agricultural use. I am so happy it's means so much to me that it will be a farm forever!! I grew up here I am raising my children here and I hope one day that one of my children will want to raise thier children here. My parent's loved this place and put so much of thier hearts and souls into it they are buried here, I will be buried here with my DH, and to know that in a hundred years it will still be a farm and our resting places will remain undisturbed is priceless. Not counting it's staying a farm!!!!! It won't ever eventually become a developement even if my children don't want it someday and sell it has to be sold as a farm.

 

[java]

Congratulations! Where in NJ are you? I'm out in Hunterdon County. Does it also give you the farmland tax break? That would be a nice bonus too. I want a farm just for the cheap taxes. So farm all I have is a garden though. Working on the farm.

 

[bballmom56]

Congratulations! I know what a big accomplishment that is! We are lucky as we have several preserved farms around us. We are only farmland assessed, which at least is a help. It is sad to see our beautiful farmland disappearing.

What county are you in? We are in Sussex.

 

[Banshee]

Java we are in Jackson it's in Ocean County we are about 10 minutes from Great Adventure. We already had the farm assessment but being in NJ and Ocean County our taxes were still close to $30,000 per year!!!!! With the preservation they will go down a little more which is great.


bballmom56 It took 7 years from start to finish for the Farmland Preservation to happen my dad started in 2002! He wanted to see it happen before he passed away but this state government moves soooooo slooooowww. I know what you mean too the Garden State is not much of a garden. Especially where we are at in Ocean County there are not many farm's at all. A huge majority of them got sold off for housing developments and shopping center's. But now my farm is preserved and the farm next door is preserved and my brother is now in the process of having his preserved he borders a section of our property, and 3/4 of our property is bordered by wetlands!! Which is part of a state park. So its a nice sizable chunk of land in Ocean and Monmouth Counties that will stay open space!

 

[Cheshire Figment]

You might want to contact a professional appraiser as well as your tax accountant. When there is a permanent easement, which is what you have done, put on something it tends to lower the market value. This reduction in valuation is considered a contribution to the state or land use trust, which is deductible as a contribution on your Federal (and probably state) income tax returns.

Mike (CPA Retired)

 

[Banshee]

Thank's Mike! I knew that, I have the same accountants that my father has used for years he consulted with them and obviously his attorneys through the whole process as did I.