Farmland preservation was the major topic of discussion at the Lowhill Township Board of Supervisor’s meeting Dec. 11, 2025.

Chairman Curtis Dietrich began the discussion.

“We are pleased to have Donna Wright, [farmland preservation specialist, Lehigh County Farmland Preservation] with us. She is going to talk about the farmland preservation program,” Dietrich said. “She was here a number of months ago, and we talked about that and we do have a fund that was established from the estate of Diana Valois and specifically indicated that those moneys were to be used for farmland and open space preservation.

“So, we have a proceeds account ready to go. We also have contemplated although we never took action but we may ask the voters if they would like to approve some additional funding or taxation like some of the neighboring townships do for farmland preservation.”

Wright said that when they have an application and the farm falls within their funding zone, they ask the applicant if they wish to move forward with the process.

She said the first step is to order an appraisal.

“Appraisals are handled by our appraiser looking at four farms that are similar in size and shape that are preserved and have sold recently and four farms in similar size and shape that are not preserved and have sold recently,” Wright said. “Our state and county has approved a cap of $6,000 an acre. So, if a farm comes in at $6,000 we pay them $6,000. If it comes in at $5,800 we pay them the $5,800. We wouldn’t necessarily come to you because it comes with in our cap. If it comes in at $6,100 we will come to you and say would you be willing to pay that $100 over the cap.”

Wright then explained what farmland preservation is.

“Preservation is a permanent preservation. It cannot be removed. It cannot be sold, and it cannot be changed. What ends up being surveyed is what is preserved,” she said. “We’ve had people in the past who come and said, ‘Well I don’t like the fact that we preserved this parcel I’d like to swap it with XYZ.’ The answer is no. What the taxpayers have paid for is that description. There is a description and a survey for a reason and that’s what’s preserved.”

She also explained farmland preservation is different from a 319.

“Three-nineteen is not preservation. It’s a tax break, and if you’ve got a deep enough pocket to pay the back taxes on it if you wish to do something else or you break the covenant, it’s not permanent. There are a lot of people who mistake that [319] is permanent,” she said.

Wright was then asked a question about the minimum size of a property.

“It has to be either pasture or agriculture of 10 acres minimum up to a 20-acre farm. I have to have at least 10 acres agricultural or pasture. Over 20 acres, then it jumps into ‘I have to have 50 percent agriculture,’” she said. “If you have more land that’s in wetlands or steep slopes or zero ranking soils as you say or that kind of thing and it doesn’t rank, we can exclude that part from being preserved and preserve the good parts.”

Wright said they want soils that are ranked 1 through 4. It’s not necessarily how fertile soil is, but rather what the construction of the soil is like. How much shale is in it? How much sand is in it and how much clay is in it? That’s how the classifications are determined.

Wright also explained Lehigh County Farmland Preservation’s rating system.

“So, the rating system goes from 100 to 0. It’s only the top scoring farms that, by law, we fund first. We can start at the top, and we have to work our way down,” she said.

Wright told board members the last thing they could do is what’s called ‘out of order.’

“What happens is we get the appraisal done so that the supervisors can decided if they’re willing to go there,” she said. “We pay a third of the price up to $2,000 an acre because our cap is $6,000 and the municipality can pay up to $4,000 or over that if it comes in higher. You guys basically always say we pay a third. You pay two-thirds and then you can pick a farm anywhere on our list that you would like to see preserved.”

Wright explained what happened in doing this with a farm in North Whitehall Township.

She said that when the owner got money for preserving land, six of his neighbors applied and all of a sudden LCFP had farms ranking 4, 5 and 6 on the list because a zero ranking farm got preserved. Now LCFP has clusters of preserved farmland which is really what you want to see. Having clustered farmland makes it much easier for the farmers to farm in that area.

There’s a lot of flexibility within the program. It is a matter of where you want to go, she explained.

After Wright discussed the funding she receives from the state and county, she told the supervisors it is up to the township how much and who they’re willing to fund.

Dietrich then asked Wright, “So in terms of our next step, I know that Mr. [Mike] Siegel did draft the beginnings of an Environmental Advisory Council ordinance.”

“That’s an excellent basis,” Wright said. “He’s already done the hard work here which is to develop [an ordinance] and that’s fantastic. It’s great to be able to look at all of those issues you want to have looked at, what farmland you have out there, and who you might want to see preserved who hasn’t maybe considered it and maybe just needs a little nudge.”

After Wright finished speaking, Dietrich said the board has the Environmental Advisory Council ordinance, which is in draft form which Siegel worked on and the board’s next step would be to have the ordinance advertised.

Siegel said his request is to not only have the board’s authorization to move forward, but have the township’s solicitor look at the ordinance prior to advertising and make sure everything is correct.

Township Solicitor Attorney David Brooman with High Swartz Law Firm joined the discussion.

Brooman said it does need some clean up, not much and agreed to look at the ordinance.

“I think you can go ahead and have the solicitor do some clean up, but I’d like to have some opportunity to review it again with more detail and review the clean up offered by the solicitor. Then we can take it up for action at our January or February meeting,” Dietrich said.