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6 <br /> 1 Persimmon Hill Farm <br /> 2 The landowners will donate the conservation easement to Orange County (Bernadette Pelissier <br /> 3 and Vann Bennett). The owners will retain the rights to: privacy, farm the land, build new <br /> 4 agricultural buildings, expand existing buildings, and one future home site on the property. <br /> 5 There will be no future subdivisions on the property. <br /> 6 <br /> 7 A motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Commissioner Burroughs <br /> 8 for the Board to adopt the resolution approving the acceptance by Orange County of the <br /> 9 conservation easement, and authorize the Chair and the Clerk to sign the conservation <br /> 10 easement agreement, subject to final review by staff and County Attorney, with a closing and <br /> 11 recordation of the document expected to occur on or about December 15, 2016. <br /> 12 <br /> 13 VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> 14 <br /> 15 b. Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program - Voluntary and Enhanced Agricultural <br /> 16 District Designations - Multiple Farms - Bonham; Mulligan/Carter; Myers; Lloyd; & <br /> 17 Brooks <br /> 18 The Board considered voting to approve applications from multiple landowners/farms to <br /> 19 certify qualifying farmland within the Schley/Eno, Cedar Grove, New Hope, and High <br /> 20 Rock/Efland Voluntary Agricultural Districts; and enroll the lands in the Orange County <br /> 21 Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) <br /> 22 programs. <br /> 23 <br /> 24 Gail Hughes, Soil Conservationist, reviewed the following information and PowerPoint <br /> 25 presentation: <br /> 26 <br /> 27 Orange County's Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in 1992. To date, 73 <br /> 28 farms have enrolled in the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) program and the Enhanced <br /> 29 Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program, totaling 10,917 acres (rounded) in the program. <br /> 30 <br /> 31 The County's Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the <br /> 32 Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and <br /> 33 to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and <br /> 34 modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for <br /> 35 inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: <br /> 36 a) Be located in the unincorporated area of Orange County; <br /> 37 b) Be engaged in Agriculture as that word is defined in NC GS 106-581.1 <br /> 38 c) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States <br /> 39 Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is <br /> 40 composed of soils that are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, <br /> 41 forestry <br /> 42 products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; <br /> 43 d) Be managed in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NC <br /> 44 Soil and Water Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are <br /> 45 addressed to said highly-erodible land; and have a current conservation farm plan and/or <br /> 46 forestry management plan associated with the current usages and owner; and <br /> 47 e) Be the subject of a non-binding conservation agreement, as defined in N.C.G.S. §121-35, <br /> 48 between the County and the owner that prohibits non-farm use or development of such <br /> 49 land for a period of at least ten years, except for the creation of not more than three lots <br /> 50 that meet applicable County zoning and subdivision regulations. <br />