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based on asite-specific development plan. Agricultural Support Enterprises would be <br />categorized by their level of impact and a complementary review process whether low, <br />medium, or high impacts. <br />Craig Benedict said that Tina Moon of ERCD and Dianne Reid, formerly of Economic <br />Development, have been very active in this project over the last four years. Also, the County <br />Attorney's Office has taken an interest in this to make sure that this future opportunity to have <br />Agricultural Support Enterprises is available to support the farm economy. He made reference <br />to pages 3 and 5 of the agenda materials, which were examples of an Agricultural Support <br />Enterprises Manual and consideration on how to expand farm-related enterprises. <br />Tina Moon said that part of the reason that this process has taken so long is that they <br />tried to do a lot of consensus building upfront. They tried to hand pick farmers who had gone <br />through this process themselves, in an effort to find other farmers that might be interested in <br />doing this. This was brought before the Ag Board and others. There has also been research <br />with other jurisdictions. She said that there has been a lot of homework, and staff now needs <br />the Board's authorization to move forward with the key concepts. One of the authorizations <br />that are needed is for development of a conditional district-zoning program. The second thing <br />is authorization to finish fleshing out the particulars. The big part of this is the performance <br />standards. This will be put together in the form of a manual to make it more user-friendly for <br />the farming community. Finally, the staff would like the Board to begin discussions with the <br />joint planning partners on the future area in the rural buffer. They want to finish this program in <br />the rural parts of Orange County and then consider the rural buffer as an independent and <br />parallel entity. She asked for the Board's endorsement. <br />Commissioner Gordon asked where this stood before. She said that it seemed like the <br />Board asked the staff to ga back and change some things. She would like to see the basic <br />report as revised and the list of uses, location types, and impacts. <br />Laura Blackmon asked if this should come back at a regular Board meeting for <br />discussion. Commissioner Gordon said yes. It was decided that this would be brought back at <br />the June 12th meeting. <br />Commissioner Jacobs said that the Board should tell the staff whether or not to proceed <br />because it has been going on far years. One of the main objections with moving forward was <br />whether or not the rural buffer was included. Staff has decoupled the rural buffer from this <br />discussion, so he thinks that this would simplify moving forward. He said that he also <br />understands that Chapel Hill staff has been directed to consider the issue of essential public <br />services allowed in the rural buffer. He suggested aiming for the October Joint Planning Public <br />Hearing to bring this forward so that the joint planning partners can at least see the concepts. <br />Commissioner Gordon suggested making a decision an June 12th and the Board agreed. <br />E. ADJOURNMENT <br />A motion was made by Commissioner Jacobs, seconded by Commissioner Nelson to <br />adjourn the meeting at 9:48 p.m. <br />VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br />Moses Carey, Jr., Chair <br />Donna S. Baker <br />Clerk to the Board <br />