The Webster Township Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program recently closed on a conservation easement purchase from the Peter Heydon Trust.
The property is just over 29 acres in size with frontage on the south side of Joy Rd. west of Jennings Rd. It features prime and locally important agricultural soils including 19 acres of woods and wetlands with extensive frontage on Boyden and Brookwater Creeks. The property is adjacent to the Legacy Land Conservancy Woodland Preserve. The conservation easement ensures that the land will never be developed but it remains in private ownership and is not open to the public.
Peter and his late wife Henrietta (Rita) purchased this property and many others in the area 40 years ago to keep them from being developed. The Heydons donated conservation easements to Legacy Land Conservancy on much of their holdings over the years, creating a large block of protected land mostly in Scio Township but including land in Ann Arbor Township. This property is adjacent to a Legacy preserve and features two streams along with woods and wetlands.
Conservation easements are permanent deed restrictions on the use of a property. Purchasing easements costs less than buying the property, and keeps the property on the tax rolls and contributing to the local economy.
In addition to Webster Township’s dedicated land preservation millage, funding support was supplied by the City of Ann Arbor Greenbelt program and the Washtenaw County Natural Area Preservation Program.
Webster Township’s land preservation program is funded by a dedicated millage which voters passed initially in 2005 and renewed twice, all by large margins. The Township has attracted over $15 million of matching funds from other sources, a rate of over $5 to $1 of its own. With this project the Township program has been involved in protecting 2,777 acres, with more projects set to close in the coming months.
