Conservation Easements

For over four decades, Barnard, Mezzanotte, Pinnie, Seelaus, LLP has regularly advised on land conservancy issues that allow landowners to protect their property forever. A conservation easement allows a landowner to own and manage their property while restricting its use to protect the property’s significant natural, agricultural, scenic, and open space resources. This is accomplished by a landowner granting legal limitations on the use of the land to a nonprofit organization (a “land trust”) or governmental entity authorized to enforce the terms of the conservancy easement. In addition, many financial benefits are available to landowners with a land conservancy easement.

Strategic Counseling and Practical Advice

Our counseling focuses on avoiding pitfalls and strategically resolving issues that arise with practical advice and support. We work with a broad spectrum of individuals and businesses, from small, family-owned companies to large corporate entities. Our goal is to develop a deep, long-term relationship with our clients so that we are uniquely positioned to help them not only meet their immediate needs, but also achieve their long-term goals. 

We provide seasoned counsel in the following areas: 

• Creating an overall strategic approach to land conservancy
• Review easement documents and provide advice
• Planning, preparing and filing conservation easements
• Modifying conservation easements
• Identification and enforcement of conservation easement violations
• Interpretation of the restrictive covenants of a conservation easement 
• Advise on financial benefits of a conservation easement

We also litigate in the following areas:

• Enforcement of conservation easement violations
• Interpretation of conservation easement restrictive covenants