Minutes 05-14-2013 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Commissioner McKee said the whole purpose for the ASE is to increase the bottom line for farms. He is not impressed by the complexity of this proposal, and he is not supportive of this because of the complexity. He said the intent is to get the farmer closer to his customer. He said that by taking the rural buffer out, a huge section of Orange County has been eliminated. He said that the term "appropriate areas" is a code word for "not in my backyard." He said a lot of these facilities can be designed not to be obtrusive to the neighbors. Commissioner Pelissier said the Board cannot give direction tonight on the zoning methods. She would like to take the special use permit off the table. She said this should not be made so expensive if the goal is to support agricultural enterprise. She clarified that the zoning will only apply for enterprises that are not on a bona fide farm. She said the goal is to assist farmers with their land but also to promote small businesses that support these farmers. She would like comments to come back to the Board on what can be done to address some of the issues on the grid. Commissioner Pelissier referred to the questions about revising home occupations. She said there also needs to be a discussion about the arts and culture communities. She said she has heard from a number of people regarding the restrictions, and many counties are less restrictive in their zoning regulations. She said there should be a focus on promoting appropriate scalable businesses in the entire rural area. Commissioner Rich said it would be helpful to see an example of a zoning project. It is more complicated than confusing. She is not convinced that the County needs to have certain businesses in the rural buffer. She would like to know what their partners think about the rural buffer, since there has been no conversation since the 2007 discussion. Commissioner Rich said she agrees with Commissioner Pelissier that there needs to be some consideration of the arts and cultural communities. Commissioner Gordon said she is not talking about bona fide farms. She said it would make sense that if farmers are given a chance to do things that people generally have a consensus about, things will probably move further. She feels that trying for more intensive uses will only make things more complicated. She said she would start with lower impact uses; and if there is a desire to do something in the rural buffer then it is important to talk with their partners. She feels that the conversation should stick with Agricultural Support Enterprises only, rather than opening up everything related to the rural buffer. Commissioner Price said she feels strongly about#1, to ask staff to work on a comprehensive project and get it done. She said the focus should be to make things as easy as possible for people trying to farm. She said there needs to be some conversation with partners on the rural buffer. She said that thresholds, scales and intensities should be looked at. She said she remembers that there was a desire not to have meat slaughtering plants. She said the zoning method choices are too overwhelming. Commissioner Price said this discussion should stick with just farming for now, rather than enlarge the issue to include arts. She said that that issue won't sit within the ASE. Chair Jacobs said he agreed that more work should be done on #1 to make it more of an enabling process. He said it would be best to take out the most intensive uses. He said that the origin of this conversation was Maple View Farms, which technically was not allowed to be where it was built. He gave the history of the store and the process of building and permits in that case. He said it was a struggle to get it off the ground, and now it is a landmark operation. Chair Jacobs said that, for#2, he feels there should be a look at rural buffer; but a conversation should be had with the partners at AOG before moving forward. Chair Jacobs said he is not ready to address #4 until more information is gained. Chair Jacobs said, regarding which categories should not be encouraged, his only thought is the water quality critical areas. He said he has no problem with including the arts.