Loudoun County Farms Are Leaving. There’s a Fight over How to Save Them
Item
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Title
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Loudoun County Farms Are Leaving. There’s a Fight over How to Save Them
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Repository
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ProQuest
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Date Created
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8/20/2023
sec. Local
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Creator
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The Washington Post (Online)
By: Antonio Olivo
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Description
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Article on the fight to retain the culture of farming and open spaces in Loudoun County as development and suburbanization continues to spread throughout the western two-thirds of the County. The article graples with the struggle for long time landowners to maintain their land, to stop development, and inspects the way in which conservation is used both as a method of stopping development but an economic boon.
The article mentions JK Land Holdings and Chuck Kuhns and their interactions with Loudoun COunty government as they try to change the definitions of what land can be placed into conservation, affecting the tax break amounts in return for conserving land. This has not been received well by large wealthy landowners like Kuhns who state they will stop seeking conservations in Loudoun County and walk away from contracts. This demonstrates the way in which the myth of progress in perpetuated in the system of controlled modernity that has created a culture of conservation in Loudoun that appears to reifywhite wealthy land ownership.
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Index/Partial Transcript
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Because the zoning proposal limiting the use of prime agricultural soil effectively reduces the amount of homes that can be built on a given site, the large property owners say, the tax benefits would also be lower, which would make it less attractive to buy the land for that purpose.
"During the past 12 months, my wife and I have put 4,000 acres of western Loudoun into conservation easements," said Chuck Kuhn, whose company, JK Land Holdings, is both the county's largest private land owner and its most active player in the conservation easement program.
"We have another 3,600 acres that are under contract, with the intention of buying and placing into conservation easement," Kuhn said. "If these rules are passed, we will walk away from those contracts. We will also no longer pursue conservation easements in Loudoun County, Virginia."
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Research Themes
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Loudoun County
Controlled Modernity
Culture of Conservation
JK Land Holdings
Myth of Progress
Slow Violence
Conservation easements
Zoning
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Type
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Newspaper
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Researcher Name
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Jacob Connelly
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Bibliographic Citation
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Olivo, Antonio. “Loudoun County Farms Are Leaving. There’s a Fight over How to Save Them.” The Washington Post (Online), August 20, 2023, sec. Local. https://www.proquest.com/docview/2853698378/citation/5A325235FACD4940PQ/1.
