As Berrien County works to preserve farmland and keep commercial agriculture alive, options are now available for farm owners in five county townships to gain state funding to purchase development rights for their properties.
The Berrien County Community Development Department has announced this afternoon that applications for the Berrien County Purchase of Development Rights Program are now available for farm owners in Bainbridge, Chikaming, Lincoln, Royalton and Sodus Townships. Applications can be downloaded at the this link: www.berriencounty.org. Once on the site, head for the Community Development Department, and click the sidebar link to the Farmland- Purchase Development Rights Program.
The program allows willing farmland owners to apply for state funding to purchase the development rights for their property. The purpose of the program is to preserve farmland in Berrien County in order to enable commercial agriculture to continue to thrive as well as to protect the county’s scenic beauty.
The State funding requires a minimum 25-percent cash match which can be in the form of private donations, from the land owner, or from other local funding sources. The application deadline is September 25, 2020.
Coordinator Katie Montoya warns that “the application process will be very competitive, due to the limited amount of state funding.” For more information, you can reach her at 269-983-7111 x8257.
