A typical rather lengthy land use dispute in New Jersey highlights some of the issues that arise with exacted conservation easements.
Asbury Farms, a landowner in Washington Township, New Jersey, sought to develop a chunk (chunk being the technical term for 317 acres) of its land to develop some retail areas, a golf course, and other buildings. Not provided for in the Township's general plan, the township established a Planned Village District (PVD) comprised of Asbury's land to allow the project to proceed. The PVD rules and other laws required a variety of permitting approvals. Over the course of the development of this project, Asbury applied for both permits and permit extensions as did some of the individual businesses included in the project.
The interesting approval (well interesting to someone obsessed with fascinate by conservation easements) was a 10-year extension of a storm water management waiver. The Land Use Board approved the extension of the development permit/waiver in 2008 but conditioned on the Board and Asbury reaching an agreement within 6 months on a conservation easement protecting open space. The Board was worried about the loss of open space as the project was developing.