These 58-plus acres are connected to two other parcels — all three amounting to 184 acres of contiguous farmland owned by the Welch family; the other two parcels do not have scheduled sale or auction dates. (Submitted photo)
Greenbelt farm land heads to sale
- Published: November 14, 2024
Nearly 60 acres of farmland west of Yellow Springs municipal limits are set to be listed for sale imminently.
According to Tecumseh Land Trust, or TLT, Executive Director Michele Burns, real estate auction company Sheridan and Associates notified the local conservation nonprofit earlier this month of the impending sale. The anticipated asking price is $22,000 per acre, Burns said, and “for sale” signs will likely be in the coming week.
Located at the intersection of Dayton-Yellow Springs and Snypp roads and owned by the local Welch family, the 58.6 acres of farmland have long been identified as a “priority property” for conservation by TLT. It’s squarely within the Jacoby Greenbelt and, since the 1970s, TLT has sought to ward off residential development from the rural land.
As the News reported last month, these 58-plus acres are connected to two other parcels — all three amounting to 184 acres of contiguous farmland owned by the Welch family; the other two parcels do not have scheduled sale or auction dates.
TLT has the goal of raising $1.5 million to purchase a conservation easement for the entire 184-acre Welch farm, and as of press time, Burns said the nonprofit is nearly halfway there. Most recently, Miami Township Trustees and Yellow Springs Village Council issued the trust $113,000 and $113,000, respectively, to help TLT reach its goal.
“We currently have the funds to purchase a conservation easement from any willing buyer who would purchase this land,” Burns said in an email to the News, underscoring that TLT would not purchase the 58 acres, but instead work with whoever buys the land to protect it from residential development — thus keeping the land for agricultural use in perpetuity.
“The way this could work is, a potential buyer could agree to sell a conservation easement to TLT for an agreed-upon price by entering into a purchase agreement with TLT that is contingent on the successful purchase of the property from the sellers,” Burns explained. “TLT will continue to work toward protecting the other two parcels east of this one with the hope of doing so before they go up for sale.”
The News was unable to reach a member of the Welch family for comment on their plans for the other two parcels.
Toward preserving the agriculturally-based rural life within Yellow Springs’ surrounding greenbelt, TLT holds conservation easements on 229 properties — totaling over 37,000 acres and 62 miles of waterways — in Greene and Clark counties. (Map courtesy of Tecumseh Land Trust)
In Burns’ view, the land likely to go for sale has a great deal of ecological significance. It rests atop “prime soil” — a “finite resource found only on 3% of the Earth’s surface,” Burns noted — and it’s situated less than a quarter mile away from the spring-fed Jacoby Creek, a source of the Village’s drinking water.
Should the buyer of the 58-plus acres of farmland opt to develop it for residential uses, Burns said the land could support no more than 10 lots, per Miami Township zoning regulations. As the code details, new homes built in the township must have a minimum lot area of three acres, with road frontage of 300 continuous feet. For Burns, residential lots of that size are “the most inefficient use of land.”
“It leaves productive farmland in the back of the lots harder to farm, and often creates incompatible land uses,” she said. “Denser housing on smaller lots is certainly the more efficient approach.”
She added: “Large lot developments certainly don’t help with affordability.”
As an example of how “unaffordable” future homes built near the intersection of Snypp and Dayton-Yellow Springs roads may be, Burns referenced another Welch-owned property in Clark County that sold at auction in August. That nearly 20-acre property — located on Jackson Road near Young’s Jersey Dairy, and purchased for approximately $14,000 per acre — is currently listed on Zillow as two parcels: one as a 3.5-acre lot for residential development listed for $159,900, and the other as a 16.4-acre agricultural field listed for $359,900.
“A similar scenario is possible for this parcel,” Burns said of the 58-plus-acre property headed for sale next week, as well as the other two adjoining parcels on Dayton-Yellow Springs Road.
Burns also suggested that more homes being built outside of the Village’s urban service boundary — that is, the limits of municipal utilities — not only wouldn’t offset Yellow Springs residents’ taxes, but may wind up costing taxpayers more in the long run.
“Over time, local governments are often asked to extend services such as water and sewer to rural developments as infrastructure ages and erodes,” she said. “We know that residential development costs more to provide services than the amount of tax revenue it brings in. So the further you get away from where you can provide services, the more expensive it is to serve.”
Beyond the practical concerns of building large-lotted homes in the township surrounding Yellow Springs, Burns also weighed the aesthetic factor of losing the open vistas that surround the village.
“One development often leads to more developments, which then disrupts the open space views driving into the village, and creates sprawl such that it’s difficult to know where one town ends and another begins,” Burns said.
Toward preserving the agriculturally-based rural life within Yellow Springs’ surrounding greenbelt, TLT holds conservation easements on 229 properties — totaling over 37,000 acres and 62 miles of waterways — in Greene and Clark counties.
“The Village of Yellow Springs has had the goal of protecting land around the village for 55 years,” Burns said. “When land outside of the village has been threatened with development, the community has said ‘no’ again and again. It’s a legacy that has kept our downtown strong, and our community sustainable.”
The News will continue to monitor and report on the future of the Welch-owned farmland as updates are made available.
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