Protecting and preserving rural land uses : issues, problems, institutions, proceedings of a conference

A Conference on Protecting and Preserving Rural Land Use in Virginia produced twelve papers, ten devoted to land-use policy and two to water policy. For the proceedings, the papers are presented in four subsets: land-use issues, case studies and methods, and water policy. The available supply of cropland, the impact of an expanding metropolis on an urbanfringe locality, and the way changes in culture impact land are discussed as issues. The case studies examine the transferable development rights program of Calvert County, Maryland; the development rights purchase program of Suffolk County, New York; and the development of differential taxation and tax-relief programs by states. Among the methods examined are zoning, transferable development rights, purchases of development rights, and timing and placement of utilities. The problems of changing water law from the Riparian Rights Doctrine to an alternative system and of implementing areawide water quality programs are discussed.