In July, a group of farmers gave supervisors a petition to create an ag security area that would encompass about 1,700 acres and include 27 farms throughout the township.

Land placed in an ag security area is protected from a variety of regulations, including eminent domain laws. In many instances, the land also is protected from being condemned.

Moreover, a farm must be in an ag security area in order to be permanently preserved by the county's Agricultural Preserve Board. In that sense, placing a farm in an ag security area is a first step toward preservation.

Township resident Ken Denlinger said he does not intend to have his farm preserved right now, but he might consider it in the future.

"It's just an option," Denlinger said. "If we don't want to preserve, another option is to sell. ... Options are what we'd like."

Chairman Glenn Eberly questioned why a farmer would want to opt for preservation, which, he said, would bind a farmer to a strict set of guidelines with no option for reversal once the preservation process is complete.

"It's (the farmer's) right, now, to preserve. But what about their grandchildren and great-grandchildren?" Eberly said.

Eberly also noted preserving farmland takes control of that land away from the township.

Karen Martynick, executive director of Lancaster Farmland Trust, said what farmers do with their land should be their decision.

"It's a private decision to preserve," Martynick said. "It's no different than the right to develop."

But Eberly challenged the petition, saying the protections farmers would receive in an ag security area are already afforded them through local zoning laws, agencies such as Lancaster Farmland Trust and initiatives such as the state's Clean and Green program.

Supervisors said they will review the petition and make a decision at their Dec. 7 meeting.

About a dozen of the 30 people who attended the meeting Monday were farmers. Most of the petitioners are Amish.

Lancaster County Planning Commission recommended approval of the plan. East Lampeter is one of only six townships that have not designated ag security areas. The others are Upper Leacock, Leacock, Paradise, East Cocalico and Eden.

Farmers brought a similar petition to township supervisors six years ago, but it was not approved. That petition, which included 10 farms, called for an ag security zone of 750 acres.