Orange County NC Website
(3) the Orange County Lands Legacy Action Plan, which was adopted by the <br />Orange County Board of Commissioners on September 12, 2006, and .which recognizes the need <br />to protect riparian buffers in the critical area of the Upper Eno protected watershed; and <br />(4) the protection of similar Orange County properties designed to protect <br />conservation and open space values through conservation easements granted to the Grantee and <br />others in the immediate vicinity of the Easement Area; and <br />(5) NCGS § 139-2 et seq., which provides that "it is hereby declared ...that the <br />farm, forest and grazing lands of the State of North Carolina are among the basic assets of the <br />State and the preservation of these lands is necessary to protect and promote the health, safety <br />and general welfare of its people... it is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature to <br />provide for the conservation of the soil and resources of this State"; and <br />(6) Article 17 of the North Carolina General Statutes NCGS 113A-240-241, <br />entitled Conservation, Farmland and Open Space Protection and Coordination, otherwise known <br />as the "Million Acre Initiative," which states that the State of North Carolina shall encourage, <br />facilitate, plan, coordinate, and support appropriate federal, State, local, and private land <br />protection efforts so that an additional one million acres of farmland, open space and <br />conservation lands in the State are permanently protected by December 31, 2009; and <br />(7) the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, authorized by NCGS § 113A-251 et <br />seq., which finances projects to acquire land and interests in land, including conservation <br />easements for the purposes of providing environmental protection for surface waters and urban <br />drinking water supplies; and <br />(8) the Soil and Water Conservation Districts Act, authorized by NCGS § 139-1, <br />et seq., which provides for the preservation of farm, forest and grazing lands; and <br />(9) the zoning of the property by Orange County as Agricultural Residential. <br />D. The characteristics and Conservation Values of the Easement Area, its current use <br />and state of improvement, are described in a report entitled "Baseline Documentation Report for <br />the Confluence Property," dated August 2008 (hereafter "the Baseline Report"), of which a <br />summary is attached as Exhibit A to this Conservation Easement. Grantor worked with Grantee <br />to ensure that the report is a complete and accurate description of the Easement Area as of the <br />date of this Conservation Easement. It will be used by the Grantor and Grantee to assure that <br />any future changes in the use of the Easement Area will be consistent with the terms of this <br />Conservation Easement. However, the Baseline Report is not intended to preclude the use of <br />other evidence to establish the present condition of the Easement Area if there is a question about <br />its use. <br />E. Grantor and Grantee have the common purpose of conserving the above-described <br />Conservation Values of the Easement Area in perpetuity, and the State of North Carolina has <br />Page 3 of 20 <br />