About 40 acres of farmland adjacent to William B. Umstead State Park will remain undeveloped after the owners agreed to place a conservation easement on the property.
The Walton Farm overlooks Richland Lake, just off Reedy Creek Road, between the eastern boundary of the park and forested land owned by N.C. State University. The Walton family will continue to own the property, which is not open to the public.
But the family agreed not to sell it for development, as other property owners in the area have. The property was appraised at more than $10 million, according to the Triangle Land Conservancy, which arranged the easement along with Wake County.
The farm, where goats graze on fields above the lake, has been in the family for more than 60 years.
“My father, Russell C. Walton Jr., loved this land and worked hard to make sure it remained intact and free from development,” Mary Walton said in a written statement. “I think he would be really proud that we have managed to conserve this place forever.”
The family donated 85% of the easement’s value, while Wake County paid the family $1.1 million from its Deferred Agricultural, Horticultural and Forestlands Tax Reserve Fund. The Triangle Land Conservancy will hold and enforce the easement.
“Triangle Land Conservancy is thrilled to have a hand in protecting this key farmland and habitat corridor in a part of our region most at risk of development,” Sandy Sweitzer, the group’s executive director, said in a statement. “We are grateful for the generous landowners and partners like Wake County who make conservation like this possible.”
The land along Richland Creek was heavily contested for decades. In 1967, Raleigh and the N.C. Department of Transportation proposed building a road through the area, to connect Interstate 40 near Cary with U.S. 70 in North Raleigh. In 1990, state transportation planners presented four potential routes for the so-called Duraleigh Connector, all running through the Richland Creek corridor between Umstead and NCSU’s Schenck Forest.
The project inspired the formation of the Umstead Coalition, which fought the highway until the state finally let it die in the late 1990s. Jean Spooner, chair of the coalition, said the easement is “exciting news.”
“We thank the Walton family, Triangle Land Conservancy and Wake County for their forever protection of one of the most valuable open space tracts in our state,” Spooner wrote in an email.
The Walton farm is the second piece of land the Triangle Land Conservancy has helped protect along Richland Creek. In 1991, the group accepted a donation of 13.4 acres from Edgar and Mary Baker, who wanted the land added to Umstead State Park, as envisioned by the park’s master plan.
The Baker donation was held up because the property was in the path of the proposed Duraleigh Connector. The state finally accepted the land in early 1997, after Gov. Jim Hunt made clear that the highway would not be built.
As a result of the donation, Richland Creek forms the boundary of the park just south of Ebenezer Church Road.