FOUNTAIN SPRINGS — The Butler Township supervisors approved the creation of an Agricultural Security Area in the township at Tuesday’s meeting.
The 3-0 vote designates productive farmland within the township as part of an ASA in order to protect farms and farmland from nonagricultural uses if individual farm owners want to become part of the program.
At last October’s meeting, the supervisors received an explanation of the positive aspects of ASAs for agricultural businesses from Schuylkill Conservation District’s Agriculture Program Coordinator Andrea Geist.
Gregory and Jennifer Keninitz, owners of Keninitz Stock Farm, located near Fountain Springs, attended Tuesday’s meeting. The Keninitzes were among those who requested that an ASA be established in the township.
“Basically, the board will approve your request,” township Chairman David Kessler told the Keninitzes. “There are still a few things that (township solicitor) Chris (Riedlinger) will discuss. However, it’s not a free pass. Zoning ordinances may still be in effect.”
Riedlinger said that activities that are not part of a normal agricultural operation are still subject to rules as part of various ordinances.
“One of the obligations that the township will have after tonight if this is approved is that we will have 10 days to file in the county recorder of deeds office a description of the parcels that make up the agricultural security area,” Riedlinger said. “I have not had any discussions yet with the recorder of deeds office and what they’re going to accept on how they (parcels) are supposed to be described. If all they want are tax parcel numbers, that’s going to be easy to accomplish and I’m not going to have any problems or issues with that. I have all four parcel numbers of the properties that make up the request.”
Riedlinger continued, “What the problem is going to be if the recorder will want a ‘metes and bounds’ description (limits or boundaries of a tract of land) of the four parcels. That’s going to be a problem because I haven’t been able to find a current deed with a metes and bounds description of one of the four parcels.”
Riedlinger said if the metes and bounds information will be required by the recorder of deeds office, then he will need to find the information before the ASA approval by the supervisors becomes official. The supervisors voted to approve on the condition that the parcels can be properly recorded at the courthouse within 10 days.
The state Department of Agriculture’s Bureau of Farmland Preservation administers the ASA program at the state level. ASAs are a tool for strengthening and protecting quality farmland from the urbanization of rural areas.
According to the state website, ASAs are voluntary for farmers/landowners. Petitions are submitted to township supervisors.
• ASAs are reviewed every seven years; however, new parcels of farmland may be added to an established ASA at any time.
•A minimum of 250 acres from among all the participating farmers is required.
• An ASA may include nonadjacent farmland parcels of at least 10 acres or be able to produce $2,000 annually from the sale of agricultural products.
• Participants receive special consideration regarding local ordinances affecting farming activities, nuisance complaints and review of farmland condemnation by state and local government agencies.
•An ASA qualifies land for consideration under the Easement Purchase Program at the landowner’s request, if the ASA has at least 500 acres enrolled.
The benefits of enrollment are:
•Prerequisite for applying to the county Farmland Preservation Program
•Protection against local nuisance ordinances related to farming activity
•Oversight in certain cases of eminent domain.
According to information provided by Geist in October, there are 15 townships in the county that have established ASAs: Barry, East Brunswick, Eldred, Hegins, Hubley, Pine Grove, Porter, South Manheim, Union, Upper Mahantongo, Walker, Washington, Wayne, West Brunswick and West Penn. More than 60,000 acres of agricultural land are currently enrolled in the county in the ASA program. There are 98 county farms covering more than 10,000 acres that have also been preserved through the Farmland Preservation Program.
In other business, the supervisors authorized Riedlinger to obtain information from lending institutions for funding to do road repairs this year.
“I talked to the road crew and we’re in a situation that we put as many Band-Aids on a lot of roads as we can,” Kessler said. “I’m making a motion to allow Chris (Riedlinger) to authorize him to secure loans for road repairs for the spring and summer of 2016.”
Riedlinger asked for how much is being sought in funding, with Kessler replying that it is being determined.
After the meeting, Kessler was asked what road or roads would be targeted for repairs.
“Country Club Road is definitely one of them,” Kessler said. “The road is horrible. That one is a top priority for us. We’re going by the recommendations of the road crew because there are only so many bandages to put on, and we’re bandaged to death.”