Orange County NC Website
ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: August 21, 2007 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. _-~j_ <br />SUBJECT: Voluntary Agricultural District Designation: John Pope Farms, LLC <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment and Resource PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />Conservation <br />ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />1) Application <br />2) ERCD Staff Memo, Vicinity Map <br />3) Certification from NRCS & Soils Maps David Stancil, ERC Director, 245-2590 <br />4) Certification from Tax Supervisor <br />5) Memo to Agricultural Preservation <br />Board (APB) <br />6) Results of Vote -Memo from APB <br />Secretary July 5, 2007 <br />PURPOSE: To consider an application from John Pope for certification as qualifying farmland <br />within the Cedar Grove Voluntary Agricultural District. <br />BACKGROUND: John Pope, owner of the 65-acre John Pope Farms, LLC, located along the <br />west side of NC Hwy 86 North in Cedar Grove Township (TMBL# 2.26..15), has applied to have <br />his property designated as a certified qualifying farm for the Cedar Grove Voluntary Agricultural <br />District. The County's adopted Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a <br />procedure for the Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for <br />qualifying farmland, and make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the <br />establishment and modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the <br />requirements for inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying <br />farmland, a farm must: <br />1. Consist of a minimum of 20 contiguous acres; <br />2. Be participating in the farm present-use-value taxation program established by N.C.G.S. <br />§105-277.2 through §105-277.7, or is otherwise determined by the county to meet all the <br />qualifications of this program set forth in G.S. 105-277.3; <br />3. Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service 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: <br />a. Are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, forestry <br />products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; <br />b. Have good soil qualities; <br />