A farmer in nearby Cumberland County has turned down a multi-million dollar bid to use his farmland for a data center thanks to a partnership with the Lancaster Farmland Trust, writes Dan Sullivan for Lancaster Farming.
Data center developers offered farmer Mervin Raudabaugh over $15 million for his 261 acres of farmland. Thanks to a 2013 voter-approved referendum, taxpayer dollars funded a purchase to preserve Raudabaugh’s farmland instead.
The 2013 vote allocates a portion of Silver Spring Township’s annual income tax for forest, farmland, and open space preservation. Raudabaugh settled for $7,200 per acre funded by the township.
After the purchase, the township partnered with Lancaster Farmland Trust to follow through with the easement. The land was formally preserved on Dec. 30.
The recent deal comes amid a national rise in data centers, large warehouses storing supercomputers used for data processing technologies. Chester County residents are familiar with the uptick, as the controversy around a planned East Vincent data center remains ongoing.
West of Chester County, only four Pennsylvania townships have taxpayer preservation programs similar to Silver Spring. Lancaster Farmland Trust vice president Jeb Musser shared that fellow townships can follow in their footsteps, and that local government might explore donor dollars or public funds as a next step towards environmental protection.
Read more about the Lancaster Farmland Trust and the nonprofit’s recent farmland preservation deal in Lancaster Farming.
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