Owners of Fawn's Blackberry Meadows preserve farmland from future development

Blackberry Meadows Farm in Fawn cannot be redeveloped for residential or other commercial uses under an easement that has been placed on more than 90% of the 85-acre property.

The permanent agricultural conservation easement preserves Blackberry Meadows as farmland.

To get the easement, owners Jen Montgomery and Greg Boulos sold the property’s development rights to the state.

Montgomery and Boulos, who retain ownership of the property itself, did not disclose how much they were paid for the development rights.

“I’m proud that we’re able to establish a farmland preservation program for Fawn to help with future food security,” Jen Montgomery said.

The farm at 7115 Ridge Road grows organic fruits and vegetables and produces pork, eggs and poultry. Through a Community Supported Agriculture, or CSA, program, customers buy into the farm and, in return, receive a share of the produce. It also serves as an incubator and educational site for up-and-coming farmers in the region.

Jonathan Burgess is the program and policy director for the Allegheny County Conservation District, which manages the Allegheny County Farmland Preservation Program. The county program is part of a statewide one that works with farms to place permanent agricultural conservation easements on properties, ensuring the protection of agricultural land.

To date, the program has preserved 38 farms containing more than 3,900 acres across Allegheny County.

“The program is proud to support their hard work and passion for growing food and feeding their community while maintaining a consistent focus on conservation and soil health,” Burgess said of Blackberry Meadows.

Now that the farmland is preserved, it always has to be used for something agricultural, Burgess said.

“The state forever holds the development rights, which means that if a new owner in 25 years wants to try to build a bunch of houses or chop up the property into a subdivision or rezone it and put a commercial facility on the site, they wouldn’t be able to. Because in a real estate office and in the deed book, there’s an easement that covers those rights that’s held by the state of Pennsylvania,” Burgess said.

“This is permanently protected farmland.”

Only 77 acres of Blackberry Meadows farmland went into conservation. Greg Boulos said some acres weren’t valuable as conservation land.

Montgomery said the preservation is something she and her husband had been pursuing for years.

Before Blackberry Meadows could become a preserved farm, the township first had to establish an Agricultural Security Area to protect farms and farming operations. Once that was approved, the couple was able to achieve farm preservation status.

Boulos said the preservation status provides security for the farm’s customers.

“There’s going to be a farm here forever,” Boulos said. “Even if we stop farming it, there will be others who come and they will have to farm it. It can never be anything but a farm.”