"Anyone know more information about this?"
You pretty much summed it up. My in-laws own quite a lot of farmland, and also own land that's designated as a "Tree Farm." They have set-aside land, as well, and the state pays them a stipend each year for the Tree Farm and the set-aside land (which basically pays them NOT to grow anything on it.)
I'd rather see it handled by the individual communities, and not have the State basically "redistributing the wealth" by using others' tax dollars for deals like my in-laws have. Nothing against them; I'd do the same thing if it were offered to me, but again, I like the idea of communities controlling their growth, versus the State stepping in and controlling Green Space.
Of course, that applies ONLY to the land a community already owns, unless they buy surrounding land from private citizens at fair market value. And of course, with any idea that sounds good at the begining, greedy people will find a way stack the deck to their advantage, LOL!
Well from what I can tell, it's a voluntary program. So if private landowners want to keep their full rights, they can. I do wonder about the permanency of the land use rights- eminent domain? I would find it appealing to live in a community in which I knew a strip mall wouldn't be built in my backyard. That's exactly what happened to my parents home and the property value plummeted.