Centennial farm owner tells board city road plans threaten family farm; cites state farmland preservation funding

Philip Kelly, a lifelong farmer who said his family's property has been farmed for 130 years, addressed the Board of Mayor and Aldermen during public comment to oppose a proposed road alignment that he said would take a third of a 30-acre tract and has previously led the city to condemn portions of his family's land.

"Our farm has been our family a hundred and 30 years. It's a century farm," Kelly said, describing repeated city condemnation actions and saying recent engineering outreach to his property occurred without prior notice. He said the road work in front of his house already creates operational problems for farm vehicles, feed and milk trucks and that a new alignment from Pleasant Grove to Union Road would remove land he counts as water supply for livestock.

Kelly said he had considered placing his land in a farmland trust but was concerned about a permanent conservation easement that would limit future options. He also said the governor recently set aside $25,000,000 in the state budget for a Farmland Preservation Fund to help preserve family farms, a point he raised in urging the council to consider alternatives to condemnation.

The comment came during public comment; no board action on the road alignment was taken during this meeting. City staff later reviewed a broad unified development draft that includes cluster subdivisions, buffers and open-space rules, and said engineering standards remain under review.

Ending Kelly asked the board to work with landowners and preserve farmland where possible; he thanked the board for their consideration.