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The Louisville/Jefferson County Environmental Trust envisions a network of neighborhood parks, greenways, historic sites, and natural areas that create a community in harmony with its environment.
Environmental Trust Minutes
The Louisville and Jefferson County Environmental Trust protects land for future generations through voluntary cooperative programs. Created in 1997, the Trust helps to implement Cornerstone 2020’s goals related to parks and natural areas, greenways, historic sites and farmland. The trust’s nine-member Oversight Board consists of five citizens and four members who represent government agencies responsible for public land. The Trust’s staff is housed at Metro Planning and Design. In a unique cooperative arrangement, technical expertise and staff support are also provided by staff in Metro Parks, Facilities Management, the County Attorney’s Office and MSD.
MISSION STATEMENT
The Louisville and Jefferson County Environmental Trust weaves together strategies for meeting the park and land preservation needs of current and future Louisville Metro residents. The Trust:
- Promotes stewardship of natural and cultural resources, both public and private, within Louisville and Jefferson County
- Explores the use of voluntary methods of private land preservation such as donation and purchase of conservation easements and land
- Coordinates with all Louisville Metro agencies that manage natural areas on public land
- Advises the Metro Council on matters of land conservation
- Educates the community about the need to preserve natural areas and increasingly rare agricultural land
PROGRAMS
Education. In order to educate Metro residents about the need to preserve parks, natural areas, and agricultural land, the Trust sponsors land preservation workshops, seminars, and public presentations. Trust staff is also available to talk with community and civic groups and individual landowners.
Stewardship. The Trust holds conservation easements on 10 significant privately owned properties in Metro Louisville. These properties represent a diverse array of natural and historic resources that will enhance the quality of life for future generations of Metro residents. This rich portfolio includes an 1891 downtown office building, early nineteenth century rural farmsteads, a ridge-top orchard and forest retreat, and a rare southwest Jefferson County wetland.
The Trust's recent projects involve land preservation agreements that will permanently conserve several unique areas. One of these protects a 10-acre, early twentieth century country estate and farm complex overlooking the Ohio River. The others preserve almost 20 acres of rare wetlands that are critical for ecological balance and would otherwise have been lost through development and a 76-acre property in the Floyds Fork watershed that will be conserved and managed as a nature preserve in honor of the donor's wife. The Trust staff and board continue to discuss land preservation strategies with landowners who are exploring ways to conserve their land and historic structures.
Public Land Management. In addition to the oversight of its privately owned conservation easements, the Environmental Trust also works closely with local government agencies on land conservation planning and management of publicly-owned sites. For example, the Trust has explored cooperative ventures with the Metropolitan Sewer District, which holds conservation easements in floodplains and along stream corridors. The goal is to work with MSD to ensure that those easements are adequately monitored and the properties preserved over the long term.
LAND CONSERVATION OPTIONS
The Trust assists landowners, land trusts and other non-profit organizations, elected officials, government agencies, developers and the business community by helping them understand the tools and options available for land preservation. The Trust’s staff works with landowners to develop long-term plans for the preservation and use of their land. With the landowner’s assistance, staff identifies each property’s natural, scenic, historic and agricultural resources and helps determine ways to preserve those conservation values. The Trust also works with government agencies and businesses to identify opportunities for meeting the park and natural area preservation needs of Louisville Metro’s residents. This may include protecting greenways for hiking, biking, and walking trails, natural areas for wildlife protection or scenic views along roadways. Another role of the Trust is to assist government agencies in identifying funding strategies for acquisition and management of parkland.
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“Merging local governments has created new opportunities for all our community, from economic development to better-protected neighborhoods – and to how we manage our scenic natural resources. The Louisville/Jefferson County Environmental Trust works cooperatively with other agencies of metro government, including Metro Parks, Planning and Design and Facilities Management, and has been an instrumental player in the recently announced City of Parks initiative. It is this kind of partnership that allows our staff to work with both individuals and the private land trust community in providing landowners access to a wide variety of land preservation tools. With more options to preserve and enjoy our community’s rich environmental heritage, we are indeed improving our hometown’s quality of life.”
- Jerry E. Abramson, Mayor
“The entire community benefits when land is preserved through the donation of a conservation easement. Unfortunately, most of us never realize the value of that gift until the land, wildlife habitat, historic structures and scenic vistas become a rare and almost extinct commodity of our communities. The people who come to the LJCET for assistance have a vision that perhaps few others see. Our role is to help them find ways to maintain this vision and offer the opportunity for others to enjoy it for many more years.”
- Kurt Mason, Chairman |
Conservation easements are one of the most widely used tools available for long term land conservation. A conservation easement is a voluntary, legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust or government agency that permanently limits uses of the land in order to protect its conservation values. Land protected by a preservation agreement can remain in private ownership. This allows landowners to continue to own and use their land to sell it or pass it on to heirs.
Conservation Easements:
ARE FLEXIBLE.
They can be written to help achieve the landowner’s goals while assuring protection for the land.
ARE PERMANENT.
Land preservation agreements remain in force even after the land changes hands.
CAN PROVIDE TAX BENEFITS.
A land preservation agreement is considered a charitable donation. If the donation qualifies as a gift under the Internal Revenue Code Section 170(h), it may ease the income or estate tax burden of the landowner.
DO NOT REQUIRE PUBLIC ACCESS.
While some landowners do allow public access for activities such as hiking trails or canoe put-ins along rivers, this is entirely the choice of the landowner.
REQUIRE REGULAR MONITORING.
Monitoring and enforcement of the terms of the easement begin at the time of the donation with careful documentation of the property, including the land’s physical and resource attributions. Sites are monitored annually.
The Trust provides information about conservation easements and other land preservation options. The Trust does not, however, provide legal or financial advice nor can it guarantee that a deduction will be realized. Conservation easements are perpetual and involve a technical area of the law. Each landowner should consult with an attorney to review the easement, and may also wish to consult with an accountant or tax planner.
To learn more about conservation easements and other land trusts be sure to visit: The Land Trust Alliance (lta.org)
Another web site of interest:
Private Landowner Network
Citizen Members
Kurt D. Mason - Chairman
Noel Rueff - Vice Chairman
Dudley Saunders
Bob Schindler
Reba Doutrick
Metro Government Members
Charles C. Cash - Director, Metro Planning and Design Services
Michael Heitz - Director, Metro Parks
Ted Pullen - Director, Metro Public Works
Herbert ‘Bud’ Schardein - Director, Metropolitan Sewer District
Alternates, Staff, and Advisory Committee
Frannie Aprile - Landowner
Theresa Senninger - Jefferson County Attorney’s Office
Phyllis Croce - Metropolitan Sewer District
David Fothergill - Metro Parks
Lisa Hite - Metro Parks
Richard Jett - Metro Planning and Design Services
Jim Braun - Metro Public Works
Bennett Knox - Metro Parks
Lee Wells - Metro Planning and Design Services
Louisville/Jefferson County Environmental Trust c/o Metro Planning and Design Services
444 S. Fifth Street, Suite 300 Louisville, Kentucky 40202-4313
(502) 574-6230; fax (502) 574-8129
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