2010-010 DEAPR - NC Dept of Ag & Consumer Services - Breeze Farm

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Scope of Work A licant Name: Oran a Coun A licant Tax Identification Number: 56-6000327 DUNS Number: 091575191 Pro"ect Title: Breeze Farm Easement Phase 2 A. What is the purpose of the project? (250 words or less) Orange County is working with retired Air Force colonel William Breeze Sr. to protect his family farm (295 acres) with perpetual conservation easements in two phases. Phase I was completed in April 2008 when the County acquired an easement on 141 acres with matching funds from the USDA Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program (FRPP) and a partial easement donation by the landowner. Phase 2 of the project would be a perpetual conservation easement on the 153-acre eastern half of the farm (Figure 5). Orange County requests $150,000 from the ADFP Trust Fund to purchase the easement. The County would provide $160,000 in matching funds and will seek $172,000 in federal matching funds from the FRPP in early 2010. Finally, Colonel Breeze intends to donate up to 20 percent of the easement value ($118,000) as determined by a certified appraisal. The deed of conservation easement for Phase 2 would have similar terms as the Phase I easement agreement (subject to ADFP Trust Fund approval). It would allow one future residence and new farm atructur~s located in a designated "farmstead envelope" identified in Figure 5. Forest management would also be allowed to help derive future income for the property. B. What community need(s) will the project serve?. (500 words or less) The conservation easement would help guarantee that this prime farmland will remain available for agricultural use in the future, which is especially important in the Triangle Region where farmland is being converted to other uses, yet there is an ever growing demand for local food products. Protected farmland provides the community with more certainty, which stimulates investment in local farm infrastructure. This project would contribute to larger public-private partnership resulting in 564 contiguous acres of protected prime farmland in an area with good access to markets and with opportunities to further agricultural research and education. The planned 153-acre easement is adjacent to 141 acres of the Breeze farm that was protected with an Orange County conservation easement in April 2008. The project is also 0.6 miles from the State-owned W.C. Breeze Family Farm Agricultural Extension & Research Center-a 269-acre farm managed by NC State's Colege of Agriculture and Life Sciences (Figure 2). Colonel Breeze and his late wife Elizabeth donated the majority of that property to the University in 2003. The NC State facility includes a small farm."incubator" managed by Orange County Cooperative Extension and a farm enterprise training program (P.L.A.N.T.) now entering its third year of operation. The conservation easement will also help to protect an historic farmstead complex located on the Breeze Farm. The farm is recognized by the NC Department of Cultural Resources as the proposed Ray-Kenion National Historic District (National Historic Register Study List). Finally, the protection of this farmland will contribute to the rural character along this highly scenic section of Schley Road in northern Orange County (Little River Township). Page 11 of 23 Easement Application