Opportunity

Poole Farm sits in northern Durham County near Buffalo Creek, a major tributary to the Little River and a drinking water source for the Cities of Raleigh and Durham. The land was designated a preservation priority by Durham County in the Little River Corridor Open Space Plan, but the owners, five siblings who inherited the property, were unable to wait for the County to secure public funding and buy the property. In 2004 the land was on the market and attracting developers’ attention.

Unique Places’ Expertise

Unique Places purchased Poole Farm in 2004, then combined financial acumen with real estate and conservation expertise to protect Poole Farm’s natural resources.

• Unique Places assessed the property’s conservation values, then collaborated with conservation partners to protect them with conservation easements.
  
• A 32-acre wetlands easement was sold to the N.C. Ecosystem Enhancement Program and a 50-acre farmland easement to Durham County.
  
• Unique Places established a relationship with a neighboring landowner who had family ties to Poole Farm as well as an interest in farming the land. By helping him sell an agricultural easement on his farm, we increased the acres of active farmland under protection.
  
• Unique Places developed the least environmentally-sensitive portion of the property to include 6 home sites.
  

Conservation Benefits

• 89 acres of permanently protected open space in the Little River watershed.
  
• Poole Farm includes 50 acres of active farmland protected by a farmland conservation easement; 32 acres of Buffalo Creek bottomland protected by a N.C. Ecosystem Enhancement easement; and 6 acres protected by a Durham County open space easement.
  
• Unique Places donated 25 percent of the farmland easement’s appraised value and 6 acres of dedicated open space to Durham County, which resulted in a savings for Durham County.

View more items »