Municipalities along Butler County’s southern border have taken different approaches to preserving farmland and encouraging development.

Access to interstate and state highways and proximity to Pittsburgh make Cranberry, Adams, Middlesex, Clinton and Buffalo townships attractive to commercial and residential developers, but the fertile soil in those municipalities makes the land desirable for farming.

In Clinton Township, there are more farms preserved through the county’s farmland preservation program than any other township in the county. The program pays farmers for easements that prohibit non-agricultural development, which the township addresses through a targeted approach.

“Clinton Township is a real advocate for farmland preservation,” said Kathy Allen, chairwoman of the board of supervisors. “As of today, Clinton Township has more preserved acres than any other municipality in the county.”

Surveys revealed that residents want the township to maintain its rural character, said Supervisor William Duncan, who serves on the county farmland preservation board.

“Most residents want to keep the township as rural as possible,” Duncan said.

Soil quality, which is scored in the farmland preservation process, makes the township ideal for farming, he said.

“The soils in the southern part of the county are very high quality soils. We get high scoring for our soils,” Duncan said.

Having so much preserved farmland so close to Allegheny County makes the township a rarity, said John Allen, Kathy Allen’s husband, a former township supervisor and a current member of the preservation board.

“Fifteen thousand acres in the township, about 10%, is preserved farmland. If we get another 5-10%, a quarter of the land would be preserved. For a municipality this close to Pittsburgh, that’s pretty unique,” John Allen said. “As time passes, preserved farmland goes up in value and becomes more desirable because there are fewer in adjoining communities.”

He and Kathy Allen’s family members own half of the dozen farms preserved in Clinton Township. The almost 1,000-acre operation, called Armstrong Farms, started in 1816 and features a large commercial herd of Black Angus, shorthorn cattle and large volumes of hay.

Bordering Allegheny County and having Route 228 as an east-to-west corridor through the northern part of the township also makes the township prime for development.

“Clinton would be naive to believe we would never have development,” Kathy Allen said.

But the township limits development to the area north of Route 228, which includes the bustling Victory Road Business Park and is the only area of the township with public sewer and water services.

The 420-acre business park property was once owned by U.S. Steel, but went through an environmental cleanup about 20 years ago with funding arranged by the Butler County Community Development Corporation.

“The park is 100% full,” said Joe Saeler, CDC executive director.

The 15 companies with facilities in the park account for 5,000 to 6,000 direct and indirect jobs, he said. The largest tenants are Aldi, which has a 1-million-square-foot warehouse; and Brayman Construction, which Saeler said is the largest bridge building business in the world.

Property taxes generated by the site totaled $60,000 before it was fully converted into a business park. It now generates $150,000 in annual real estate taxes, Saeler said.

Zoning in the area north of Route 228 also allows for high density residential development. A 77-acre property there was recently purchased by a developer, Duncan said.

Developers can build one to six homes per acre of land in that area. If more than one home is built on such a lot, a transfer of development rights fee of $4,500 to $5,000 must be paid for each additional unit, he said.

That fee is based on the average of the amount the township pays per acre to preserve farms. The township forwards that money to the county farmland preservation program. The state provides a 4-to-1 match of that money, which the county uses to buy preservation easements, Duncan said.

In exchange, township farms receive priority status when the board selects farms for the program, John Allen said.

South of Route 228, the township requires a 5-acre lot for a single family home.

“The majority of people in our community appreciate that and they want that,” Duncan said.

John Allen said the township is proof that local governments do not need to rely solely on development to function.

“There is a persistent belief that development is necessary to sustain local government — that growth and development are needed to meet the financial needs of a community. That has proven not to be true,” he said.

The benefits of farmland and green space to the community are greater than the benefits of development because township expenses related to farms and open spaces are less than expenses related to development, he said.

Duncan said he worked with a planner about seven years ago who told him that for every dollar in taxes received from farmland, a municipality spends 20 cents in services. The payout is 30 cents from every tax dollar received from commercial and industrial property. But for every tax dollar paid by the owner of a house, a municipality spends $1.47 in services, he said.

“Clinton is really a hidden gem — sewage and water in the northern part of the township, close to Pittsburgh, a good bit of really good quality farmland that hasn’t been addressed by developers. It’s very unusual for all circumstances to come together as they do in Clinton,” John Allen said. “We have attempted to capitalize on the fact that farmland is special, and we should try to preserve it.”

Farms exist in Cranberry and Adams townships too, but development has at times played a large role.

There is one preserved farm in each of those townships with a farm owner who is trying to add to the value of her farm, but two homeowners associations that represent 277 owners in both developments have filed a suit against farm owner Linda Santa and Adams Township over Santa’s plans to use a recently built barn as a wedding venue.

The township is supporting Santa’s position the venue is exempt from strict enforcement of zoning laws because it is protected under the state’s Right to Farm law. Santa, who could not be reached for comment, has assured the township that activities at the venue would end by 10 p.m.

In neighboring Cranberry Township, the lone preserved farm is owned and being brought back to life by the township. The 150-year-old, 71-acre Powell Farm was gifted to the township in 2023 after the owner Denton Powell died.

“It’s an effort to recognize where Cranberry Township came from, its agricultural roots,” said Dan Santoro, township manager.

He said Denton Powell had the farm preserved through the county about 20 years ago, and the township is reviving the farm operation to use it to teach students about where food comes from.

“In Denton’s will, he wanted to ensure the farm went to a not-for-profit entity interested in preserving it for agricultural purposes,” Santoro said. “We said we’d be happy to.”

“Our intention is to operate it as a farm and highlight the importance of agriculture in Butler County as an industry. Yes, we have lot of growth, but we want youth to know milk doesn’t come from Giant Eagle.”

The challenge to preserving farmland comes indirectly from development, said Mark Gordon, chief of the county’s economic development and planning department, which oversees the farmland preservation program.

Through the program, 79 farms are preserved and two more are expected to be completed in the coming months, bringing the total acreage of preserved farmland to 8,105, said Sheryl Kelly, farmland coordinator.

Two other farms have accepted easement offers from the board and should be approved by February and easement offers have been made to two other farms, she said.

Many farms in the county have been passed down through generations of families, but “not an abundance” of young family members are interested in making farming a career, Gordon said.

“There are some. God bless the ones we have,” Gordon said, about young family farmers.

Developers looking for large parcels of land to build high density residential developments can offer large sums of money that some young farm heirs who are uninterested in farming can’t resist, he said.

“The average age of farm owners is growing steadily,” Kelly said. “Young people don’t want to do this kind of work.”

The cost of operating a farm is another deterrent to people thinking about farming.

Gordon said combines and other equipment are expensive. Technology makes farming a little easier, but that technology is expensive, too.

“The cash and capital outlay is very significant. Some equipment costs hundreds of thousands of dollars,” he said.

For those willing to work the land, farms have to have high quality soil to be selected for the preservation program. The program has incentives, but also comes with restrictions.

Once a farm is preserved, only one piece of it can be used to build an additional house, Gordon said.

Up to two acres can be used for an additional home, which can only belong to a family member or farm employee, Kelly said.