New task force will study open space rules

SHARON — A task force formed by the Board of Selectmen has already attracted more than half-a-dozen interested town residents, according to First Selectman Malcolm Brown. The volunteers will study the possible consequences of a proposed change to a town ordinance that governs tax breaks for land left as open space.

As the ordinance stands now, property owners in the general and rural residential zones can apply for 490 status — and benefit from a reduction in their property taxes — if they own a parcel of 10 or more acres.

Town officials have discussed changing the open space regulations to allow property owners with smaller open-space parcels to qualify. The goal of the change would be to protect and preserve the rural character of the town.

When Sharon updated its Town Plan of Conservation and Development last year, voters made it clear that maintaining rural character and protecting open space and farmland were priorities.

The state requires towns to revise their town plans every 10 years; those that fail to do so are not allowed to apply for certain types of state funding. The plan is an overall vision statement for how residents want their town to look and function; it forms the basis for planning and zoning regulations, which are changed and updated after the plan is approved by taxpayers at a town meeting.

After Sharon’s Town Plan was passed, members of the Planning and Zoning Commission began to discuss a revision to the open space regulation. Last month, the Board of Selectmen voted to create a task force to study the plan and see what the tax implications would be. Allowing more properties to qualify for open space 490 status could have an impact (“Possibly a small impact,� Brown clarified) on how much money would be collected in property taxes each year. The state also has 490 exemptions for farmland and forest.

In Connecticut, towns pay for all education costs as well as the cost of running the town (from the transfer station and road crew to town hall and any salaried town employees) through property taxes.

About 50 percent of the land in Sharon (19,260 acres) already qualifies for 490 status, the first selectman estimated, although he said it will be up to the task force to gather data about exactly how many acres benefit from the exemption.

Of those 19,260 acres, Brown said, 2,260 are in open space 490. He compared those numbers to other area towns: Kent has 490 acres in open space; Salisbury has 2,463.

In Sharon, 12,055 acres are protected by forest 490 and 4,952 acres are protected by farmland 490.

The task force will be asked to look at and clearly spell out the proposed changes to the open space 490 rules, to figure out how many parcels would qualify if the change were made, and to calculate the possible impact on the town’s property tax income. They will be asked to consult with the town’s assessor and various town commissions. They will then report their findings to the selectmen.

Anyone interested in volunteering for the task force should contact the first selectman at Town Hall.

Up to seven people will be selected to serve, and the first meetings are expected to be held by October.

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