COMMUNITY LAND TRUST
IN THE SOUTHERN BERKSHIRES
What is a Community Land Trust?
The Community Land Trust (CLT) is
a non-profit organization made up of members throughout the Southern Berkshire
area. Anyone living in the area
may join simply by paying a yearly $10 membership fee. The central principle
motivating the work of the CLT is that homes, barns, fences, gardens, and all
things done with or on the land should be owned by individuals, but the land
itself is a limited community resource that should be owned by the community as
a whole. The CLT makes this
community ownership of land possible.
The CLT's primary function is to
buy or accept gifts of land and lease it back to members under a 99-year lease
that is automatically renewable and inheritable. Through the 99-year land lease,
the trust removes land from the speculative market and facilitates multiple
uses such as affordable housing, agriculture, and open space preservation. Part
of this process is to determineŅin conjunction with land-use planners, local
government, and the community at largeŅthe most appropriate use or uses for a
given parcel of land, be it a wildlife refuge, a group of houses, a managed
woodlot, a commercial development, or vegetables grown for the local
market. The functions of a CLT can include:
To work with conservation land trusts to manage lease
agreements on land that needs to be farmed in order to be conserved
To negotiate and oversee lease agreements between farmers
and individual landowners who would like to give farmers incentive to make
long-term improvements to their land
To serve as a vehicle for organizing shopkeepers and
other business people to buy their own buildings
To undertake the land-use planning and multiple-use
development of a parcel brought forward by a group of CLT members on behalf
of future leaseholders, such as a co-housing community
Keeping Housing Affordable
Everyone in the Southern Berkshires is affected in
some way by the inflated price of housing. Those who do not need a house have children, grandchildren,
or neighbors who do. Those who
rent have watched their monthly income evaporate as rents continue to increase.
The CLT lease allows people to buy a house for what it is worth without having
to buy the artificially inflated land that it sits on. The lease restricts the resale price of
the home to the value of buildings and other improvements on the land. That is,
the cost of rebuilding the same house again at the time of sale. This makes it affordable for every
subsequent buyer, not just the first one.
No one buying that house will ever again have to pay for the inflated
price of the land.
The same holds true for
commercial land, which frequently is owned by interests outside of the
community. Shopkeepers and
producers of goods must live with the uncertainty of short-term agreements and
rising rents. The 99-year CLT
lease can make it easier for business people to buy their own buildings and
remain secure in them, and it can keep those buildings affordable for the next
business leaseholder. In sum, under the CLT lease, a leaseholder owns, buys,
and sells the results of real work and not the results of the inflation in the
price of land in the area. The
inflated value of the land does not accrue to any individual but is held by the
Community Land Trust, which belongs to the community.
Preserving Farmland
Farming
can address the critical connections between ecology, economy, and
community. It can provide fresh local
food, protect habitat, prevent over-development and sprawl, and provide
employment in rural areas.
However, farmland faces the same pressure of rising land prices in our
region - often leaving farmers, especially new farmers seeking land, unable to
make a living.
As
with affordable housing, the CLT can hold farmland and provide a 99-year
renewable and inheritable lease to the farmers, while the farmers can own the
buildings and any improvements they make to the land. The lease can also include a land use plan, ideally created in collaboration with the
farmers, that specifies requirements for the intensity of farming, farm
practices, and restrictions on areas intended for conservation. In this way, the CLT can keep small-scale,
organic farming viable, allowing farmers to practice wise stewardship without
having to force crops to pay off land debt.
Community Land Trust Holdings
The
Community Land Trust in the Southern Berkshires currently holds three parcels
of land. The first is a 10 acre
parcel in the shadow of Jug End Mountain, which includes four residences and an
apple orchard. The second is
Forest Row, a residential community of 18 dwellings on 21 acres, much of which
is undeveloped woodlands. The
third is Indian Line Farm, an active organic farm of 17 acres, including
sensitive wetland areas that are permanently preserved.
Join Us!
In sum, preventing land speculation,
increasing local self-reliance, and encouraging full community participation
are among the most critical means by which the Community Land Trust brings
housing, farming and business costs down and makes land-use planning a
community-based endeavor. We
invite you to become a member of the Community Land Trust and to take an active
role in designing the future landscape of the Southern Berkshires in all its
many facets. Members join by
paying a yearly $10 membership fee.
The business of the Land Trust is conducted by a Board of Directors
elected by the membership. Members
are encouraged to join or form committees to address particular issues of land
use, including affordable housing, finding suitable land, land-use planning,
financing, publicity, or attracting new members.
COMMUNITY LAND TRUST IN THE SOUTHERN
BERKSHIRES
P.O. Box
276, Great Barrington, MA 01230, www.CLandTrust.org