CUMBERLAND COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — A Cumberland County farmer turned down millions to turn his land into a data center.
Mervin Raudabaugh has lived on farmland in Silver Spring Township for decades. He milked cows for 51 years there, and his mother died in his arms inside a barn on the property.
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Last month, he sold the development rights to the farm for about $2 million. Raudabaugh can still sell the land itself one day, but only to someone who will keep it farmland.
Raudabaugh made the sale as a data center developer was dangling $15 million over his head.
“They were approaching him, and they were, in his view, harassing him to the point that his attorney was considering filing against them in court,” said Laura Brown, coordinator of the township’s land preservation program. “So, that’s when I called Jeb [Musser] and Lancaster Farmland Trust and said, ‘Hey, are you guys interested in preserving?’”
Silver Spring Township is one of four municipalities outside the Philadelphia area where voters decided to dedicate part of their income taxes to purchase the development rights for their land. It costs the average household $120 each year, and residents have preserved 21 properties since 2013, the township said.
“Once Laura reached out to us, our board was more than supportive of this,” said Jeb Musser, vice president of land protection for the trust. “These farms met all of our criteria as far as good farms to preserve.”
Many Pa. residents don’t want data centers in their communities. State leaders are welcoming them.
The township compensated the Lancaster Farmland Trust, a nonprofit, to hold and enforce the easement to Raudabaugh’s land.
Raudabaugh can likely sell the land as farmland for a few million dollars, meaning between that and the money he got for preserving it, he would get less than half of what the data center folks were offering.
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