Impacts of Open Space on Property Values in the Chartiers Watershed

Rivers conservation is the preservation and remediation of streams and rivers for purposes of maintaining or enhancing water quality, water volume and flow conditions, and the geomorphology of streams and adjacent streamside terrain. Conservation requires management of not only the streams themselves, but also the level, types and spatial distribution of human activities in the watershed. The economic benefits of rivers conservation include not only the immediate benefits to communities of enhanced river and stream qualities, but also indirect benefits from the management of human activities in the landscape.

This section provides some evidence of the types of economic benefits to Chartiers communities from a rivers conservation plan designed to enhance and preserve river and stream qualities.

When amenities, such as parks enhance the value of land, property owners often will invest more in their properties, primarily by building larger or more valuable structures; i.e., the land can support larger investments. This appears to be the case in the Lower Chartiers Watershed as shown below in Figure 1.

Figure 1

Median Sale Prices for Single Family Residences,

by Distance from Nearest Park

The conclusion is that parks enhance property values, whether it be similar homes selling for higher prices or the construction of higher value structures. Parks are an effective instrument to enhance tax bases in communities. In addition, they have value for rivers conservation by supporting the necessary hydrologic and nutrient cycling functions of a vegetated landscape.