Rural Lapeer County, near Flint, Michigan, is proposing to use public money to compensate farmers in exchange for limiting new residential and commercial development.
County residents will vote on a controversial proposal, which sets aside $1.2 million a year for farmland preservation. The plan will give farmers who elect to participate a one-time fee to restrict the deed of their property to agricultural use.
"In the past 20 years, about 45,000 acres of Lapeer County farmland have been lost to residential and commercial development. Those who want to stem that tide have placed a millage proposal on the ballot that would allow farmers to be paid to put deed restrictions on their property."
FULL STORY: Ballot proposal would limit farm land use
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