Purchase of Development Rights (PDR)

New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets Farmland Protection Implementation Grants preserve the State's agricultural land base through the Purchase of Development Rights (PDR).

PDR places a deed restriction, known as a conservation easement, on the property. Conservation easements are voluntary legal agreements that restrict the development and subdivision of land.

When farmland owners sell and donate their development rights they retain all other rights of ownership and continue to farm the land. The land stays private and landowners are not required to allow public access. Protected land can be passed on to other family members or sold, but future landowners are required to follow the terms of the agreement.

The Onondaga County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board (FLPB) has developed a pre-application process to review farms that want to apply for State PDR funding. Onondaga County typically submits three to five farm applications to the State each year, depending on State grant requirements.

Since 1998 nine Onondaga County farms consisting of approximately 4,500 acres have been protected by conservation easements.

The American Farmland Trust (AFT) and New York Agricultural and Farmland Trust (NYALT) hold these conservation easements and provide easement stewardship on behalf of the County.

Additional farm properties in the Skaneateles Watershed have also been protected through the efforts of the City of Syracuse Skaneateles Watershed Program.

The Town of Lysander is also creating an innovative Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) program that will protect farms from development. TDR programs enable the transfer of development potential (rights) from one parcel of land to another—developers "buy" development rights from agricultural land owners and transfer those development rights to a designated area with adequate infrastructure that can assimilate higher densities.