Residents Approve Farmland Preservation Millage


On November 8th, residents gave the green light to the first-ever Farmland and Adjoining Natural Areas Preservation millage, passing the ballot proposal with a 56% majority.  

Residents took advantage of the beautiful day and showed up at the polls with 63% of registered voters casting ballots between the Township’s two polling locations. 

The .6 millage will cost each household about $0.18/day* and generate about $200,000/year in revenue. With matching county, state, federal, and private funds, officials hope to preserve one or two farms per year. 

Farmland preservation is completely voluntary.  A property owner offers their development rights for sale to the township, and the Board of Trustees processes the request.  If an agreement can be reached, the parcel will be forever preserved in its current state. The farmer retains ownership of the property and  is free to sell their property or pass it to heirs, but the new owners may not change the land use.

The Northfield Township Land Preservation Committee (LPC) was created in December, 2016, and tasked with “researching strategies that would benefit the township”.  Last year, the Board of Trustees agreed with the LPC’s recommendation to place a millage on the ballot and “let the residents decide” whether they wanted to fund farmland preservation.

Now that they have, the LPC would like to thank those who supported this effort and have committed to preserving land in Northfield Township.

*Based on the median household assessed value of $218,700 (per U.S. census data).