Burrillville Land Trust set to get tax exemption boost

BURRILLVILLE — Founded 17 years ago by a small group of residents dedicated to saving and preserving the town’s natural landscape, the private, non-profit Burrillville Land Trust has done some big things since 1999.

To date, the trust has acquired a whopping 214 acres, as well as an 11-acre conservation easement on Jackson School House Road.

The Burrillville Land Trust is now in a position to preserve even more land thanks to the General Assembly, which approved legislation this week to amend the state law that declares the trust’s property holdings exempt from property taxes. The original legislation limited its tax exemption to $500,000 worth of property. The bill, passed by the House Tuesday, allows the nonprofit to preserve up to $2 million worth of land taxfree.

The bill has been passed by the Senate and now goes to the governor.

“The Burrillville Land Trust is grateful to Rep. Cale Keable and Sen. Paul Fogarty as well as the Town Council of the Town of Burrillville for helping the land trust in their mission of preserving the rural character of the Town of Burrillville,” said Burrillville Land Trust President Paul Roselli. “Many land trust’s in the state are hindered by a runaway land appraisal system that thwarts saving Rhode Island’s special places. As open space, forested areas and agricultural land becomes increasingly more valuable as appraisals for land increase, the chances of saving the land becomes a challenge even for the wealthiest of land trusts. I would hope that some day we take the monetary and taxable value of open space and preserve property out of the saving equation.”

Burrillville Land Trust President Paul Roselli says passage of the bill co-sponsored by Keable Fogarty couldn’t have come at a better time because it paves the way for the land trust to acquire even more property down the road.

“We are anticipating over the next two years getting some acquisitions that will push us over the $500,000 cap – maybe close to $1 million,” said Roselli, who has been pushing for the state law amendment since the spring.

Roselli approached the Town Council with the amendment request back in April. A month later the council agreed to support the request and have the Keable and Fogarty submit legislation on the town’s behalf.

“The General Assembly approval of legislation for the Burrillville Land Trust gives us a short term fix for a problem that needs a longer term solution,” Roselli said.

“The Burrillville Land Trust has been very successful in its efforts to save land from future development as a means of preserving the town’s rural character and maintaining natural places for recreation and native wildlife habitat,” said Keable (D-Dist. 47, Burrillville, Glocester). “Its volunteers have also been strong advocates for the environment locally and at the state level.

Fogarty said the need for the legislation is a testament to the Burrillville Land Trust’s accomplishments.

“We’re proud to have sponsored this bill because it will mean a great organization is able to do even more good work protecting the beauty of the northwest corner of our state,” he said.

Rosessli said the land trust sought the amendment so it could be on par with other private, non-profit land trusts in the state. There are approximately 50 land trusts in Rhode Island. Half of those are municipal land trusts and the rest are private. Of those private land trusts, four – including Burrillville – have tax caps.

The Burrillville Land Trust acquired its first property in 2002. Known as the Sloan Conservation Area, this 34.5 acre parcel was given to the land trust in memory of the Sloan family.

Since that first acquisition, the Burrillville Land Trust has acquired additional properties for a total of 214.51657 acres of conserved land.

In 2007, the land trust secured its first conservation easement through a donation of the development rights on 10 acres of the historic 1730 Benjamin Smith Homestead Farm. The conservation easement was the first time that a conservation easement in town was used to protect and preserve land and a working farm.