Agenda - 07-05-1988 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Osa While agriculture is still important to the Township, the conversion of agricultural lands to non-farm uses over the last three decades has been continuous and significant. Between 1955 and 1977, the year the North Carolina Crop and Livestock Reporting Service discontinued its township cropland counts, Eno Township lost 37% of its crop and pasture lands. Anecdotal evidence from two sources since then indicates the trend has continued. The first source of information is the Orange County Agricultural Extension Service. They estimate that between 1981 and 1987 approximately 500 acres of crop and pasture land in the Township was lost to development activity. The second source of evidence is enrollment trends in the Orange County use value taxation program, which began in the early 1980's. The program allows land owners whose property meets certain agricultural production or forest management criteria to have that property taxed at its use value rather than the higher market value. In the five year period from 1982 to 1987 the overall acreage enrolled in the program actually increased. Specific trends within the program, however, still support the contention that a. continual conversion from farm to non-farm uses is taking place. There are two land classifications within the use value taxation program, agricultural and managed forest. Even through the overall acreage in the program increased, land classified as agricultural declined from 4,200 to 3,600 acres. The increase came entirely in the managed forest category which jumped from 2,650 to 5,650 acres. Forty percent of the increase in managed forest land was the result of just one new property being enrolled in the program. Another 25% of the increase is the result of conversion of lands in the program from agriculture to managed forest. The criteria for managed forest is less stringent and the required land use less intensive than for property classified as agricultural. Because of this reduction in use intensity a transition from agricultural to managed forest land may portend future development of the affected property. The remainder of the increase can be attributed to the enrollment of much smaller parcels than in past years. What this indicates is that, rather than putting new farm or forest lands into production, smaller landowners have decided that the additional regulations are now worth the tax savings that accrue in the face of increasing assessments. As a general rule, the minimum lot size that can be enrolled in the program is ten acres. For an average ten acre parcel in 1982 the difference between market value and use value was $8,990. That gap had widened to $19,710 five years later. 3.10-5