The City of Ann Arbor and Pittsfield Township have agreed to purchase the development rights on 82 acres of farmland at Morgan and Platt roads, for about $1.5 million.

The city will provide $597,500 from its greenbelt program toward the purchase of the late Walter Hilton's property.

The township has received a grant of $350,000 from the federal farm and ranchland protection program and $255,000 from the state agricultural preservation board. Pittsfield Township has also pledged a total of $295,000 from its general fund.

The land is located between the township's Lillie Park and the Pittsfield Preserve.

The land is designated for agricultural preservation in the Pittsfield Township Comprehensive Plan. "This is one of the few properties (in the township) that is in the greenbelt and that also has the agricultural preservation (designation),' said township Treasurer Christina Lirones.

In addition to the PDR deal, the Ann Arbor solid-waste department plans an outright purchase of 52 acres of land from the Hilton estate, on the northwest corner of the property, adjacent to the city's compost site. The cost of that land, about $1.09 million, will come from the city's solid-waste fund. The new acreage will provide access for a proposed new drop-off station and provide room for future expansion of the city's compost operation. (See related story.)

City parks officials were interested in portions of the Hilton property in the past, but the owners had been unwilling to sell just part of the land, said Jayne Miller, community services area manager for the city.

Currently being farmed, the 82 acres are expected to remain in agricultural use, Miller said. (Two small pieces of 10 acres and 11 acres are being sold separately to local agricultural businesses, she said.)

The city is paying about $21,000 an acre for the 52 acres being bought outright.

That's more than double the price the city and Washtenaw County paid last month for the outright purchase of 140 acres in Superior Township. The county government open-space program has paid an average $10,000 an acre paid in its first six years.

The Hilton property is "high-quality land that's still being farmed,' said Miller. "That's what the appraisals came in at.'

The price per acre for the development rights is about $18,000.

By comparison, the development rights on 43 acres of farmland on Saline-Milan Road in York Township - farther from the city of Ann Arbor - were appraised at $14,000 an acre last year.

Of the $20 million bond that the city issued after Ann Arbor's open-space and ag land preservation tax was approved in 2003, just under $10 million has been spent on greenbelt purchases so far, Miller said. Almost $7 million more has paid for park properties.

John Mulcahy contributed to this story.