Agenda - 01-22-2009 - 3b - Laserfiche WebLink

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ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: January 22, 2009 Action Agenda Item No. j - ~j SUBJECT: Voluntary Agricultural District Desi nation: Minka Farm, LLC DEPARTMENT: Environment and Resource PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No Conservation ATTACHMENT(S): 1) Application 2) ERCD Staff Memo, Vicinity Map 3) Certification from NRCS & Soils Maps 4) Certification from Tax Supervisor 5) Memo to Agricultural Preservation Board INFORMATION CONTACT: David Stancil, 245-2590 Tina Moon, 210-2595 PURPOSE: To consider an application from Brian and Kimberly Harry to certify Minka Farm as qualifying farmland within the Cane Creek/Buckhorn Voluntary Agricultural District. BACKGROUND: Brian and Kimberly Harry have applied to have their property, Minka Farm LLC, designated as a certified qualifying farm for the Cane Creek/Buckhorn Voluntary Agricultural District. The farm consists of six parcels, located along the east side of Buckhorn Road, just south of Mt. Willing Road, in Cheeks and Bingham townships. Together the parcels total 275 acres. The County's adopted Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district, (VAD). To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: 1. Consist of a minimum of 20 contiguous acres; 2. Be participating in the farm present-use-value taxation program established by N.C.G.S. §105-277.2 through §105-277.7, or is otherwise determined by the county to meet all the qualifications of this program set forth in G.S. 105-277.3; 3. Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is composed of soils that: a. Are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, forestry products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; b. Have good soil qualities;