Conservation and Community Development Goes Hand in Hand

Land Conservation helps communities protect the bottom line in five key ways:

1. Reducing the tax burden on residents2. Improving property values3. Attracting business investment 4. Reducing spending on infrastructure 5. Promoting healthy lifestyles and public

health

Source: Land Trust Alliance Fact Sheet “Economic and Tax-Base Benefit of Land Conservation”

Open Space Reduces the Tax Burden on Residents

Studies consistently show that more BALANCED residential development---development that includes the preservation of open space--- helps reduce acommunity’s overall tax burden.Converting open space to residential development almost always costs more infunding new required services than the community can expect to realize in taxesand other benefits from the development.The result is more often a tax loss for communities.

Source: Land Trust Alliance Fact Sheet “Economic and Tax-Base Benefit of Land Conservation”

Open Space Improves Property Values

• Open space also improves the local taxbase by enhancing community propertyvalues, which leads to increased taxrevenue.

• Property values near open space (and thustaxes paid on those properties) aregenerally higher than property valueslocated further away from open space.

• A survey by the National Association ofRealtors found that 50 percent ofhomebuyers would be willing to pay morethan 10 percent for a house near a park orprotected open space.

Open Space Attracts Business Investment

• Open space further helps to increase thelocal tax base and reduce the relative taxburden on residents in communities byattracting new business development.

• Business leaders today recognize that agood environment is a critical factor inwhere their companies decide to locateand their ability to attract top works.

• No matter how quality of life is defined,park and recreational opportunities arelikely to be a major component of it.

Open Space Reduces Spending on

Infrastructure

• It is often more cost-effective for acommunity to maintain open space—which can control flooding, filter waterrunoff, or help to mitigate air pollution—than to invest tax dollars in expensiveinfrastructure projects to achieve the samefunction.

• By helping to capture precipitation, openspace can potentially reduce the cost ofmanaging storm water and the cost ofdrinking water up to ten-fold.

Open Space Promotes Healthy Lifestyles and

Public Health

• Open space promotes healthy lifestyles and public recreation, which canreduce the obesity epidemic and the rising cost of health care.

• Ready access to open space is a key tool in the fight against obesity!

• Ultimately, opportunities for healthy lifestyles through accessible open spacecan provide greater economic savings to individuals and their communities.