Agenda - 01-23-2007-6a - Laserfiche WebLink

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Penny Conservation Easement Draft Nov. 27, 2006 BOCC 8 or similar ecosystem," as that phrase is used in P.L. 96-541, 26 UCS 170(h)(A)(ii), as amended, and in regulations promulgated thereunder. The Property also includes land adjacent to the New Hope Creek riparian corridor, which has been recognized by Orange County as a significant wildlife corridor and is identified on Pages 2.2-41 of the Land Use Element of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan as the Korstian Division/Duke Forest section of the New Hope Creek Refuge System. It is a primary purpose of this Easement to protect the undeveloped nature of the Grantors' Property and, in doing so, help to protect the natural area and wildlife habitat associated with this area. The Property also contributes to the open space and rural character of this section of Chapel Hill Township and the "Rural Buffer so classified in the Orange County Comprehensive Plan. It is a further purpose of this Conservation Easement to help to protect the rural character and open space of the Rural Buffer in Chapel Hill Township. The conservation purposes of this easement, notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained herein, are also recognized by, and this Conservation Easement will also serve, the following clearly delineated governmental conservation policies: . (1) the Orange County Board of Commissioners' goal (adopted June 21, 1999) to identify and coordinate the preservation of the County's most. significant natural areas; and (2) the Land Use Element of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan (adopted September 2, 1981 as amended) with its goal of conserving and protecting Orange County's significant "Resource Protection Areas" from adverse development impacts, including county natural areas, wildlife corridors and lands placed by individual property owners into conservation easements; and (3) the New Hope Corridor Open Space Master Plan, which was adopted by Orange County in the spring of 1989 and which recognizes the need to preserve recommended wildlife corridors along the upstream areas of New Hope Creek; and (4) the protection of similar Orange County properties designed to protect conservation and open space values through conservation easements granted to the Grantee and others in the vicinity of the Grantors' Property; and (5) Article 17 of the North Carolina General Statutes NCGS 113A-240-241, entitled Conservation, Farmland and Open Space Protection and Coordination, otherwise known as the "Million Acre Initiative," which states that the State of North Carolina shall encourage, facilitate, plan, coordinate, and support appropriate federal, State, local, and private land protection efforts so that an additional one million acres of farmland, open space and conservation lands in the State are permanently protected by December 31, 2009; and