Pennsylvania Clean and Green Program (Act 319): Eligibility and Rollback

The Pennsylvania Clean and Green program, created by Act 319 of 1974, lowers property taxes on qualifying land by assessing it at its current use value rather than its fair market value. It covers three kinds of land: agricultural, agricultural reserve (open space), and forest reserve. In exchange for the reduced assessment, the owner signs a covenant to keep the land in a qualifying use, and breaking that promise triggers seven years of rollback taxes plus interest. County assessment offices run the program locally, while the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture sets statewide use values each year.¹

Land That Qualifies

Your land has to fit one of three statutory categories. A single property can have different portions enrolled under different categories if the uses are mixed.

Agricultural Use

Land qualifies as agricultural use if it has been actively producing agricultural commodities for the three years before you apply and covers at least 10 contiguous acres. A smaller tract can still qualify if it produces an anticipated yearly gross income of at least $2,000 from agricultural production.² That income floor is what keeps specialty crop growers and market gardens on smaller acreage in the program.

Agricultural Reserve

Agricultural reserve is for land kept as open space for outdoor recreation or scenic enjoyment. It has to be at least 10 contiguous acres, and there is a catch that surprises many owners: you must allow the public to use the land for outdoor recreation, free of charge. You cannot gate it off and still receive the tax break. This is the category for owners who aren’t farming but want to preserve meadows, fields, or natural areas.

Forest Reserve

Forest reserve covers at least 10 contiguous acres stocked with trees capable of producing timber or other wood products, managed to support ongoing forest growth. Unlike agricultural reserve, there is no public access requirement, which makes it the simplest path for owners of wooded acreage.

Applying Through Your County

Applications go to the county assessment office where the land sits. Each county runs its own process and forms vary a little, so pick up the correct packet directly from that office.³ You’ll need your tax parcel number, total acreage, a breakdown of how many acres fall into each use category, a copy of your deed, and a map or plot plan showing how the land is divided among the uses.

The application includes a covenant with an important ongoing obligation: you must notify the county assessor at least 30 days before any change in land use, change in ownership, or division of the property.⁴ That 30-day notice is one of the most commonly missed pieces of the program, and skipping it can compound the financial consequences if something you do turns out to be a breach.

Once the county approves the application, it gets recorded against the deed so any future buyer or heir knows the land carries Clean and Green obligations. Some counties charge a processing fee on top of the recording fee, so ask about total cost when you request the forms.

Deadlines

The standard deadline to voluntarily withdraw a property is June 1 of the year before the tax year for which you want removal to take effect. For new applications, check with your county assessment office, because the effective date depends on when the application is processed relative to the upcoming tax year.

If your county goes through a county-wide reassessment, the application deadline is extended. In a reassessment year, the deadline becomes the earlier of 30 days after the final order of the county board of assessment appeals, or October 15 of that year.⁵

Rollback Taxes If You Leave or Breach

A breach of covenant happens when enrolled land is put to a use that no longer qualifies, such as commercial development or residential building beyond what the program allows. The landowner then owes rollback taxes covering seven years. The rollback equals the difference between what was actually paid under Clean and Green and what would have been owed at fair market value, plus 6% simple interest per year on that difference.³ On a large tract enrolled for many years, that number can reach tens of thousands of dollars.

Normally the rollback applies only to the acres actually taken out of qualifying use. The exception is what makes this program legally hazardous: if a split-off or other division of the property fails to meet the statutory requirements, rollback taxes can be assessed against the entire enrolled tract rather than just the piece that changed.⁶ That is the single strongest reason to involve the county assessor before any change to enrolled land.

Voluntary Withdrawal

You are not locked in permanently. You can pull property out of the program by writing to the county assessor by June 1 of the year before the tax year for which you want removal. Rollback taxes still apply on a voluntary withdrawal, so the savings you took over the enrolled years get recaptured. What you gain is control over the timing, which matters if you’re planning a sale or development.

Dividing, Transferring, and Inheriting Enrolled Land

The statute treats land division as two very different things depending on whether each new piece still qualifies on its own.

Separations

A separation is a division where every resulting tract independently meets the eligibility requirements: at least 10 contiguous acres in a qualifying use (or the $2,000 agricultural income threshold). Done correctly, a separation triggers no rollback. This is how families divide large properties among heirs while preserving the tax benefit on each parcel.

Split-Offs

A split-off is a division where the carved-out parcel doesn’t meet the eligibility requirements, usually because it’s too small. The statute allows split-offs, but with strict limits. Regulatory examples treat split-offs of about two acres at a time as compliant, while a four-acre split-off in a single year did not meet the size requirements.⁶

There is also a lifetime cap. Total acreage split off over the life of the enrollment cannot exceed 10% of the original tract or 10 acres, whichever is less. On a 50-acre property, that means no more than 5 acres total across all years combined. Blow the cap, or use split-off land outside its permitted purpose, and rollback taxes hit the entire enrolled tract, not just the piece that was split off.

Inheritance

When an enrolled owner dies, Clean and Green status can pass to heirs without rollback, provided the inherited land keeps meeting the program’s use and acreage rules. Direct beneficiaries who maintain the qualifying use simply continue the enrollment. If the tract is divided among several heirs, each resulting parcel has to satisfy the eligibility criteria on its own, or the division gets treated as a non-compliant split-off.⁷

Energy, Gas, and Cell Tower Uses

Enrolled land can host some energy and telecommunications uses without losing the preferential assessment on the whole property, but the rules are narrow.

Land in any of the three categories may be used for Tier I alternative energy systems, including solar, wind, geothermal, and biomass, if more than half of the energy generated each year is used on the tract itself. If most of the energy is sold off-site instead, the land used for energy production loses its preferential assessment and is taxed at fair market value.⁸ Commercial wind is a partial exception: a landowner can lease enrolled land for commercial wind turbines even when most of the power is sold off-site, but the specific area devoted to wind production is removed from preferential assessment and taxed at fair market value, while the rest of the enrolled land keeps its status if it still qualifies.

For oil, gas, and coal bed methane, rollback taxes apply only to the specific acreage that can no longer be used for the enrolled purpose. The county determines which acres are affected once the well production report is first due, after construction and drilling are complete, and the rollback is retroactive to the date of permit approval. If a third party holds pre-existing mineral rights and exercises them without the landowner’s involvement, the landowner is not responsible for the resulting rollback taxes.

You can lease part of your land for a wireless or cellular tower without losing the preferential assessment on the rest, but only if the leased area is no more than half an acre, the tract has no more than one tower, and the land is not sold or subdivided (a lease itself doesn’t count as a subdivision). Rollback applies to the leased piece, and its assessment shifts to fair market value; the surrounding enrolled land continues under Clean and Green if it still qualifies.⁸

1
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania Legislator’s Municipal Deskbook – Taxation and Finance – Clean and Green
2
Pennsylvania General Assembly. Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974
3
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Clean and Green
4
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974 – Clean and Green Law
5
Pennsylvania Assessors’ Association. Administration of Act 319 Preferential Assessment
6
Legal Information Institute. 7 Pa Code 137b.84 – Split-Off That Does Not Comply With Section 6(a.1)(1)(i) of the Act
7
Legal Information Institute. 7 Pa Code 137b.71 – Death of an Owner of Enrolled Land
8
Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974 – Clean and Green Law