They co-sponsored a conference Nov. 14 at the Palmetto Expo Center in Greenville, with landowners and real estate developers, to encourage conservation easements. The easements encourage landowners to voluntarily give up some of their property rights in order to have a say in future development. In return, property owners receive significant tax breaks. To determine the value of the easement donation, the owner has the property appraised both at its fair market value without the easement restrictions and at its fair market value with the easement restrictions. The difference between these two appraised values is the easement value.
Conservation easements respect the private property rights of individuals.
So, farm and forest landowners are freed from being taxed as if they owned residential subdivisions or commercial property. A conservation easement is a contract between the landowner and an organization like Upstate Forever in which the landowner relinquishes some or all the rights to develop the property. It does not open up private property to public use. It is for the landowners to decide if they want to allow any public use of the property. When you donate a conservation easement to a land trust, you permanently give up some of the rights associated with the land.