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West Vincent board approves $683,000 contribution to preserve 78‑acre Bennett farm
Summary
The board adopted a resolution to acquire a conservation easement on the Bennett property (78 acres), committing $683,000 of township funds toward a $917,900 total purchase that includes county grant support; French & Pickering Creek Conservation Trust will hold the easement.
The West Vincent Township Board of Supervisors voted to authorize a conservation easement purchase that will preserve 78 acres of the Bennett property (identified in the packet as 17 Years LLC). Township counsel said the township’s contribution is $683,000 toward a total easement value of $917,900; conservation partners said that local funding unlocked an additional county grant that made the preservation possible.
Pam Brown, senior conservation adviser for the conservation trust, thanked the landowners (the Blacks) and the board and described the project as the result of a long local effort to protect the site. "This funding that you've committed allowed me to get the entire county grant that I applied for," Brown said, and she urged the board that the farm be maintained in agricultural use and conserved in perpetuity.
The board’s resolution was moved, seconded and approved by voice vote; the transcript records supervisors saying "Aye." Township staff noted the easement document and recording remain to be finalized and that staff will coordinate with the conservation trust and county grant administrator on closing steps.
What happens next: township personnel were authorized to complete the necessary steps to record the easement and implement deed restrictions consistent with the ordinance and conservation trust requirements.
