The Williamson Act
Closing loopholes in technical language turns tricky
by Brian Schmidt

Nearly 40 years ago, the California Legislature passed the California Land Conservation Act of 1965. Commonly referred to as the Williamson Act, this was designed to preserve agricultural lands and open space - and it has proven to be remarkably effective at doing so.

Santa Clara County's many properties under Williamson Act contracts are supposed to stay in agricultural production, but some landowners have not followed the rules, and are developing these properties.

The Act enables local governments to enter into contracts with private landowners who agree to protect their lands' open space or agricultural values in exchange for reduced property taxes; the tax revenue lost by the counties is made up for by State subsidies.

Having used the Williamson Act since its inception, Santa Clara County now has more than 362,000 acres of land under Williamson Act contracts - a whopping 43% of the County's land area.

County seeks to stop landowners
from skirting requirements
Unfortunately, a recent state audit found that some Santa Clara County landowners who had entered into these agreements have been ignoring Williamson Act requirements and developing their properties. In response, the County is now adjusting how the program operates, and Committee for Green Foothills is jumping in to help ensure that the fix does not cause its own problems.

With these proposed reforms, the County is upsetting some of the same developers that have traditionally used the loophole in the lot line adjustment process - a loophole the Committee helped close last summer. Again, developers are pushing for as weak and loophole-ridden a fix as possible. Committee for Green Foothills needs to be a counterweight to that pressure on the County, fighting the efforts to destroy agricultural and open space uses.

Closing loophole not straightforward
The Williamson Act is filled with technical language and complexities that make fixing the system's problems rather tricky. While the Committee supports the idea of giving financial incentives to landowners that preserve their property, we don't want that system abused. Reacting to the current abuse problem, the County is proposing to exclude from the Williamson Act's reduced tax rates those "problem" properties that are not being used for agriculture.

But closing this loophole involves a couple of catches. First, we don't want any properties wrongfully excluded from eligibility for Williamson Act tax reductions because then those owners will have no incentive to hold back from developing their properties.

Second, we may want to distinguish between land that just happens not to have been farmed and land that is inherently unsuitable for agriculture. If current owners are not farming, they should not get Williamson Act benefits - but permanently excluding their lands from future inclusion under the Williamson Act may be throwing the baby out with the bathwater.

Finally, the Committee is working to understand better how changes in this language might affect Coyote Valley and Almaden Valley, two areas that are threatened by sprawl spilling out from San Jose. We don't want to lose any opportunities to protect these important regions.

Both statewide and locally, the Williamson Act has proven to be an effective measure for controlling urbanization and helping to preserve our remaining farmlands and ranchlands. While Santa Clara County ponders the best way to close this loophole, the Committee will continue our research and our work with the County to find the best solution to saving this important legislation.