- Oct 3, 2007
- 1,539
So one of these days we're going to escape from New Jersey-not anytime soon, but when we are finally ready to move it is definitely going to be over the river for a number of reasons, the primary one being that we're hoping to purchase a sizable piece of land (20 acres-maybe 30 if we can swing it?) which is simply out of our league on this side of the Delaware. However, property taxes on that much land still aint cheap, so I'm interested in the types of land preservation that is available in PA. Act 319/Clean and Green is simply tax reduction-basically, the way I understand it is this: Say you have 30 acres of forest. To a timber or pulp company the land is worth however much the timber on it is worth. To a developer looking to come in, subdivide it into 2 acre lots, and build homes, it's worth a lot more, which can drive the assessed value way up. Clean and Green allows the land to be assessed at what it is worth to the timber company-not the developer, which from what I understand usually results in a pretty decent tax break. I do have a few important questions though.
-The reason we want 20-30 acres of forested land is because we want privacy and a place to hunt-we have no desire to log it for the purposes of selling timber. However, we also plan to heat solely with wood, so I need to know what the regulations are about harvesting timber for the purposes of home heating fuel from land in Forest Reserve Land status.
-I'm also interested in what kinds of "strings" this tax break could come with. As you stated Bob, you can't get something for nothing. Is the state going to want to inspect the land every so often? Would I be prohibited from doing certain things on the land (off road vehicle use, etc...)?
I'm very interested in hearing from folks who are in this program and what they think of it, how the application process is, any pitfalls to avoid, etc...
-The reason we want 20-30 acres of forested land is because we want privacy and a place to hunt-we have no desire to log it for the purposes of selling timber. However, we also plan to heat solely with wood, so I need to know what the regulations are about harvesting timber for the purposes of home heating fuel from land in Forest Reserve Land status.
-I'm also interested in what kinds of "strings" this tax break could come with. As you stated Bob, you can't get something for nothing. Is the state going to want to inspect the land every so often? Would I be prohibited from doing certain things on the land (off road vehicle use, etc...)?
I'm very interested in hearing from folks who are in this program and what they think of it, how the application process is, any pitfalls to avoid, etc...