A combination of the CIP and zoning is the Urban Growth Boundary and its smaller relative, the Village Growth Boundary. Both types of boundaries require cooperation among jurisdictions to identify land use needs over the next 20 years and to draw a limit to the extension of public services, especially sewer and water lines. An urban or village growth boundary strategy will work only if there is restrictive zoning in the countryside. If the countryside is zoned in 2-acre lots, a large amount of residential development will simply leapfrog over the boundary and spread through the hinterlands. Financial incentives can be combined with zoning to encourage farm and forestry operators to remain in business.
Financial incentives are strictly voluntary.
Preferential farm property tax programs exist in every state. The shortcoming of these programs is that most have minimal eligibility requirements, and the size of the tax break often is small compared to what a developer can offer. Three states Oregon, Nebraska, and Wisconsin link preferential farm property taxation to agricultural zoning. This helps to protect the public interest in the preferential taxation, and not simply reduce a landowner s holding costs while waiting for the land to ripen in value for development. The preferential taxation should be extended to commercial farm and forestry operations, not to subsidize the lifestyle of hobby farmers and rural homeowners.