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DRAFT s <br />IVlemorandum <br />To: Orange County Board of County Commissioners <br />Chapel Hill Town Council <br />Carrboro Board of Aldermen <br />From: Laura Blackmon, County Manager <br />Craig Benedict, Planning Director <br />Dianne Reid, Economic Development Director <br />Date:. April 26, 2007 <br />Subject: Agricultural Support Enterprises <br />Background <br />At a March 2004 Joint Planning Area Planning Public Hearing, Orange County Planning <br />Staff presented information on an on-going initiative hosted by Economic Development <br />and ERCD to provide more business opportunities for local farmers in the rural parts of <br />the county both in Agricultural Residential (AR) and Rural Buffer (RB) areas. The <br />project remains part of the County's effort to preserve farmland and farming as a viable <br />economic pursuit. The purpose of this memorandum is to provide our Joint Planning <br />Area (JPA) partners with an update of this project and to begin a dialogue on the future <br />of farming in the Rural Buffer. <br />Agricultural Support Enterprises (ASE) <br />Agricultural support enterprises are becoming increasingly important to the survival of <br />our local farms. The focus of the agricultural support enterprises project is to add new <br />farm-related uses that would be subject to our zoning ordinance that will provide <br />farmers with an opportunity to gain more revenue from their farms from these new <br />ventures. These new uses will be logical extensions to existing farm operations, such <br />as corn maize's (agritourism), roadside stands (direct marketing) and small-scale <br />processing facilities to make sauces (valued-added), as well as services related to <br />farming such as feed stores and large animal veterinarian services. <br />Process <br />Farmers will be required to go through a standard process and obtain a permit like any <br />other development project. (Bona fide farm purposes, which are exempt from zoning <br />per the North Carolina General Statutes, will remain exempt.) Staff are reviewing the <br />existing permit process, as part of this initiative, and are considering ways to streamline <br />it or, at least, to make it more user-friendly. While most of the potential changes to our <br />zoning ordinance will only affect the rural parts of the county, it is possible that some <br />changes may have implications within the Rural Buffer. With that in mind, County staff <br />wanted to provide our JPA partners with an update on the project prior to any formal <br />consideration of amendments. <br />Agricultural Support Enterprises Page 8 <br />