Encroachment: Permitting Continued Use Without Risking Loss of Ownership
New PALTA Guide Looks at Common Problem
What should you do if a neighboring landowner encroaches on your organization’s property (e.g., builds a shed or extends their lawn) or otherwise uses the land without permission? Sometimes immediately booting them is the best answer; sometimes arriving at some accommodation that provides them with at least temporary permission makes more sense. Doing nothing invites trouble.

Model Permission for Encroachment
New PALTA Model Provides Tool to Resolve the Problem
PALTA has published the  Model Permission for Encroachment  to provide organizations with a tool for permitting a neighbor to continue encroaching on their land without the organization risking loss of ownership through adverse possession or incurring liability due to injuries or property loss. This short and simple document is two pages including signature lines.
Don't Regulate Rooftop Solar Without Compelling Cause
New PALTA Guide
Regulating rooftop solar energy systems through municipal zoning ordinances results in fewer people powering their homes and businesses with clean, safe, renewable energy. Furthermore, common arguments for regulation do not hold water. Check out  the guide .
Five Guides Updated
PALTA has updated and revised five of its guides at ConservationTools.org thus far this year, part of the Association’s ongoing commitment to keeping the site’s guidance fresh. Changes ranged from complete rewrites to reflect new understandings in the field to miscellaneous edits to improve readability and utility. Titles, links, and brief descriptions of the guides are as follows:

By making straightforward changes to municipal land-use ordinances, Conservation by Design helps communities protect open space and natural resources at essentially no cost and without reducing the rights of landowners and developers to develop their land.

When a seller wants to close a sale of real estate but the buyer is not yet in a position to fully fund the purchase, the parties can close the sale with the seller taking from the buyer a purchase money note and mortgage in lieu of an all-cash payment.

Transfer of Development Rights is a zoning technique that conserves land by redirecting development that would otherwise occur on the land (the sending area) to a receiving area suitable for denser development. The technique operates so that owners in the sending area can be compensated for their redirected development rights.

Urban growth boundaries are used to demarcate where government intends to encourage and discourage land development. This guide provides links to resources about urban growth boundaries, as well as examples from Pennsylvania municipalities.

Regulating rooftop solar energy systems is not generally recommended. However, Pennsylvania municipalities may adopt zoning regulations to govern the installation and operation of them as well as other types of solar and wind energy systems. This guide specifically addresses rooftop solar; non-commercial, ground-mounted solar; and non-commercial wind energy systems.
April 3rd, 10AM-2PM | Brandywine Conservancy Offices ( Map it)

Join land trust staff, board members, and volunteers on April 3 at the Brandywine Conservancy for a roundtable discussion about farmland preservation and other farm-related work by land trusts. Coffee and lunch will be provided.