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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: December 7, 2015 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-b <br /> SUBJECT: Voluntary and Enhanced Agricultural District Designation: Multiple Farms - <br /> Saier/Knapp; Griffin; Hughes/Sakiewicz; Woods; Parker; Gray/Warren; Latta; <br /> Irvin Farm, Atwater; and Durham <br /> DEPARTMENT: DEAPR - Soil and Water PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br /> Conservation <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> 1) Overall County Map David Stancil, 919-245-2510 <br /> 2) Applications and Maps Gail M. Hughes, 919-245-2753 <br /> Peter Sandbeck, 919-245-2517 <br /> PURPOSE: To consider applications from multiple landowners/farms to certify qualifying <br /> farmland within the Caldwell, Cane Creek/Buckhorn, High Rock/Efland, New Hope/Hillsborough, <br /> Schley/Eno, and White Cross Voluntary Agricultural Districts; and enroll the lands in the Orange <br /> County Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District <br /> (EVAD) programs. <br /> BACKGROUND: Orange County's Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in <br /> 1992. To date, 60 farms have enrolled in the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) program, and <br /> the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program, totaling 8,540 acres (rounded) in <br /> the Program. <br /> The County's Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the <br /> Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and <br /> to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and <br /> modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for <br /> inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: <br /> a) Be located in the unincorporated area of Orange County; <br /> b) Be engaged in Agriculture as that word is defined in North Carolina General Statute (NCGS) <br /> 106-581.1 <br /> c) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States <br /> Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is <br /> composed of soils that are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, forestry <br /> products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; <br />