Useful statistics for understanding this post: Woodstock is 61.8 square miles, or 39,550 acres. According to the Plan of Open Space and Conservation – accepted June 20, 2001 (pg. 15) there is approximately 22,721 acres in PA 490 (or 58.9% of Woodstock’s entire acerage). Including the holdings of the state, there are only approximately 3,038 acres that can be considered ‘committed’ open space.
While increasing the tax base is controlled by Proposition 46 the proper application of PA-490 isn’t. There are quite a few approved subdivisions in town that are presently taxed at the rate a farm qualifies for. These people are literally stealing from the town. ‘Burning Up’ mentions windfall profits. Well, this is exactly what these people are doing. They keep the land in PA-490 for 10 years and pay no tax penalty when they re-sell it. Some have existing lots of 2.5 or more acres with values of $150 K and more being assessed at $700 or less. Other abuses are the people that buy a house with 5 or more acres and put everything over the 2.5acre building lot into PA-490. This is an abuse of a program that is intended for farm protection. Why is PA-490 applicable to lots of 2 acres or more when the minimum lot size today is 2.5 acres? There is the fear that if property is taxed properly, it will cause mass building due to sales of land. This isn’t so since the present sub-division regulations limit the number of homes on a private driveway to 5 houses, and 50% of the buildable property is given up to open space. Read the rest of this entry »



