Ten Kent County Culver’s locations are holding a Share Night Tuesday raising awareness and funds to preserve farmland through the Purchase of Development Rights Program.
Kent County Community Development Coordinator Haley Stichman explains how the program works.
“The county seeks federal and state grant funds to purchase the development rights which is essentially restricting land that so it can't be developed, and it can only be utilized for an agricultural use. Landowners would apply to the program, and we would go through the process of purchasing those development rights.”
Stichman notes that farmland loss is an issue across Kent County where land has been increasingly lost to development.
The 2022 agricultural census revealed between 2017 and 2022 that the county lost about 13,000 acres of farmland.
“When we talk about preserving agricultural, we typically talk about reducing sprawl, trying to make room for development where we have infrastructure which allows us to keep the more rural characteristics of the county and preserve that farmland.”
Kent County Culver’s restaurants will donate 10% of Tuesday evening’s sales to benefit the program.
The group is still looking for volunteers to help with:
- Greeting guests
- Food running
- Monitoring outdoor activities (tractors)
Priority volunteer locations are Walker/Standale, Rockford, and Wyoming.
