The Two Doors Out of Clean and Green

Written by Andrew Miller

An abbreviated version of this blog appeared in the Lancaster Farming newspaper.

Pennsylvania’s Clean & Green program — the preferential tax assessment created by the Pennsylvania Farmland and Forest Land Assessment Act of 1974, Act 319 (72 P.S. §§ 5490.1–5490.13) — is one of the most valuable tools available to farm and forestland owners. It taxes enrolled land on its use value rather than its fair market value, and more than 12 million acres are enrolled statewide. But buried in the mechanics of how land leaves the program is a distinction that most landowners never see coming — and one that can quietly forfeit a right they may desperately want back years later: the right to re-enroll.

The rule, in a sentence: if a landowner voluntarily withdraws enrolled land, that land can never be re-enrolled by the same owner. But if the very same land is involuntarily removed by the county because of a change in use or a disqualifying conveyance, the door stays open — the owner can re-enroll any remaining eligible land right away. Two paths lead out of Clean & Green. They look almost identical. Only one lets you come back.

A Tale of Two Exits

Clean & Green is, at heart, a covenant. Enrollment lasts in perpetuity until something breaks it. The Act contemplates two fundamentally different ways that break can happen, and it treats them very differently.

Door One — Voluntary Removal (the door that locks behind you)

Section 8.1 of the Act, 72 P.S. § 5490.8a, lets a landowner affirmatively elect out of the program. To do so, the owner must (1) notify the county assessor in writing by June 1 of the year immediately preceding the tax year for which removal is requested; (2) remove the entire tract or tracts enrolled under a single application; and (3) pay rollback taxes on the whole enrollment. Every county administers this through a notarized “Voluntary Termination of Preferential Assessment” form.

Then comes the trap. Subsection (b) states in plain terms:

“Land removed from preferential assessment under this section shall not be eligible to be subsequently reenrolled in preferential assessment by the same landowner.”  — 72 P.S. § 5490.8a(b)

That is a permanent bar. Once an owner walks through Door One, the land is dead to Clean & Green for as long as that owner holds it — no matter how faithfully it is farmed afterward.

Door Two — Involuntary Removal (the door that stays open)

The far more common exit is involuntary. When an owner changes the use of enrolled land to something outside agricultural use, agricultural reserve, or forest reserve — or conveys it in a way that violates the covenant — the county, not the owner, removes the land and imposes rollback taxes. Under 7 Pa. Code § 137b.81, that owner “shall be responsible for the payment of roll-back taxes and interest, and preferential assessment shall end” on the land that no longer qualifies. The penalty is the same seven years of rollback plus 6% simple interest per year (72 P.S. § 5490.5a; 7 Pa. Code §§ 137b.81, 137b.89).

But here the statute does something quietly generous. The very section that creates the permanent bar for voluntary removal contains an express carve-out for everyone who leaves through Door Two:

“Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit a landowner whose land was terminated from preferential assessment under other sections of this act from reenrolling the land in preferential assessment.”  — 72 P.S. § 5490.8a(c)

Read subsections (b) and (c) together and the design becomes clear. The permanent lockout attaches only to a removal accomplished “under this section” — that is, under § 5490.8a’s voluntary-withdrawal procedure. A termination that occurs “under other sections of this act” — a change-in-use rollback under § 5490.5a and § 5490.8 — carries no such disability. The land, once it again qualifies, is free to be re-enrolled.

The Distinction at a Glance

Note: Counties administer Clean & Green individually. Confirm re-enrollment treatment with the specific county assessment office before acting.

Where This Really Matters: The Partial Solar Project

Nowhere is this distinction more consequential — or more lucrative to get right — than in solar development on a portion of an enrolled farm. Consider a familiar fact pattern: a landowner owns an 80-acre tract enrolled in Clean & Green and leases 35 acres to a solar developer for a ground-mounted array whose output is sold to the grid rather than used on the farm.

Converting those 35 acres to commercial solar is a change in use. It triggers a rollback — and, as county assessment offices consistently apply the Act, the rollback is calculated on the entire 80-acre enrollment, not merely the 35 acres of panels. (This whole-tract exposure is why solar leases must be structured with the split-off and separation rules of § 5490.6 firmly in mind.) The remaining 45 acres continue to be farmed.

Now the payoff. Because that removal was involuntary — accomplished through a change in use “under other sections of this act” rather than through a § 5490.8a withdrawal — the savings clause in § 5490.8a(c) applies. The landowner may immediately re-enroll the remaining eligible 45 acres, provided that acreage still satisfies the program’s requirements (generally ten acres or more in a qualifying use, or the agricultural-income threshold). The farm keeps its preferential assessment on the land that is still a farm.

Contrast the disaster scenario: the same landowner, wanting to “clean things up” before signing the solar lease, files a voluntary termination on the whole 80 acres under § 5490.8a. Same rollback bill — but now subsection (b) slams the door. The 45 acres of genuine, continuing farmland can never be re-enrolled by that owner. A single procedural misstep converts a temporary tax event into a permanent loss of preferential assessment on land that never stopped being farmed.

The Second Act: Planning for Decommissioning

The same logic extends to the end of a solar project’s life — and dovetails with Pennsylvania’s new decommissioning regime. Under Act 44 of 2026, ground-mounted solar facilities must be removed and their sites restored at the end of the project, with the facility owner (not the host landowner) bearing the cost. When those 35 acres are decommissioned and returned to farmable condition, they can once again meet the Clean & Green use requirements.

If the original removal was involuntary — a change-in-use rollback — then the decommissioned acreage is not burdened by the § 5490.8a(b) lockout, and, with the remaining farm, can be re-enrolled to restore preferential assessment across the reunified tract. That is a real, plannable, multi-decade tax benefit. It exists only if the exit from Clean & Green was engineered as an involuntary change-in-use event rather than a voluntary withdrawal. The difference between the two is measured not in effort — both require paperwork and a rollback check — but in which form gets signed and how the transaction is characterized.

A Word of Caution on “Change in Use”

A change in use must be real. Pennsylvania courts strictly construe tax-preference statutes against the taxpayer, but they have also held that a mere intention to change use — or minor site alterations — is not enough to trigger a rollback (see Feick v. Berks County Bd. of Assessment Appeals and the Commonwealth Court’s golf-course line of cases). Conversely, split-offs and separations that fail the Act’s acreage and use tests can trigger rollback on the entire enrolled tract, as Saenger v. Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals makes clear. The practical lesson is that both the form of the exit and the substance of the use change must be handled deliberately, in coordination with the county assessment office, and ideally confirmed before any deed is recorded.

A Practical Playbook for Landowners and Developers

1. Never sign a voluntary termination form to accomplish a change in use. If the land is going to solar, mining, development, or any other disqualifying use, let the change in use itself trigger the involuntary removal. Do not volunteer out under § 5490.8a.
2. Confirm the county’s re-enrollment practice in advance. Most counties permit re-enrollment of the remaining eligible acreage after a change-in-use rollback, but each administers the program independently. Get it in writing from the assessment office before recording anything.
3. Verify the remaining land still qualifies. Ensure the untouched acreage meets the ten-acre threshold (or the $2,000 agricultural-income test) and a qualifying use so it can be re-enrolled during the March 1–June 1 window.
4. Structure solar leases with the split-off and separation rules in mind. Because a change of use can expose the entire enrollment to rollback, coordinate the lease, the parcel configuration, and § 5490.6 conveyance mechanics from the outset.
5. Plan the decommissioning re-enrollment now. Build the intended re-enrollment of restored land into the project documents so the end-of-life tax benefit is preserved and not accidentally waived.
6. Model the rollback before you commit. Ask the county for a rollback estimate using the tax parcel number so the client understands the seven-year, 6%-interest exposure before the change in use occurs.

The Bottom Line

Clean & Green gives landowners two ways out, and they are not created equal. Voluntary withdrawal under § 5490.8a is a one-way door: it costs the rollback and the permanent right to return. Involuntary removal through a genuine change in use costs the same rollback but preserves the ability to re-enroll the remaining farmland — and, with proper planning, to restore preferential assessment on decommissioned solar acreage decades later. For any client contemplating solar, development, or any other change of use on enrolled land, the single most valuable piece of advice we can give is this: do not walk through the wrong door.

Decisions about Clean & Green enrollment can have lasting tax consequences, particularly when planning a solar project or other change in land use. Before withdrawing from the program, executing a lease, or recording a deed, consult with the county assessment office and seek legal guidance to understand the potential rollback taxes and preserve future options. Contact MPL’s Land Use and Energy Team to discuss how Clean & Green requirements may affect your property and development plans.