Properties
As part of its mission, The Hillside Trust actively engages in land conservation. Since acquiring its first property in 1984, the Trust has preserved over 250 acres of hillside lands in Hamilton, Clermont, and Boone Counties. It has accomplished this through the generosity of private landowners who either have donated their property in fee simple, or whom have placed a conservation easement on the land and donated the easement to The Hillside Trust.
A fee simple donation means quite simply that the owner transfers the deed of the property in fee to a non-profit organization like The Hillside Trust. The transfer is recorded with the local auditor’s office, and the property becomes a legal possession of the recipient organization. The appraised value of the donation can be taken as a tax deduction by the donor.
Once it owns the property, The Hillside Trust will apply for a real estate tax exemption, which otherwise would become a mounting financial burden. In some cases The Hillside Trust will remove honeysuckle and other non-native plants from its properties. Yet, the properties will always remain “forever wild” and undeveloped, and they will never be sold. Currently, The Hillside Trust owns 164 acres of hillsides in fee simple.
The conservation easement works differently. It allows landowners to retain ownership of their property while giving up their right to develop all or part of the land. The conservation easement is a legal agreement between a landowner and a land trust that is individually crafted to meet the conservation desires and financial needs of the landowner, while meeting the preservation goals of the land trust. A conservation easement is a legally binding instrument that is recorded with the property’s title, and all future owners are bounded by its terms. All present and future owners of lands with conservation easements are required to permit the holder of the conservation easement annual access to the property for inspection and monitoring purposes.
The donation of a conservation easement may result in an income tax deduction, as well as reduced property and estate taxes. Currently, The Hillside Trust holds conservation easements on 89 acres of hillside lands.
For more information about individual properties The Hillside Trust has preserved, please click on the index below.