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6 <br /> ➢ 1 future home site <br /> ➢ No subdivision <br /> Persimmon Hill Farm <br /> The landowners will donate the conservation easement to Orange County (Bernadette <br /> Pelissier <br /> and Vann Bennett). The owners will retain the rights to: privacy, farm the land, build new <br /> agricultural buildings, expand existing buildings, and one future home site on the property. <br /> There will be no future subdivisions on the property. <br /> A motion was made by Commissioner McKee, seconded by Commissioner Burroughs <br /> for the Board to adopt the resolution approving the acceptance by Orange County of the <br /> conservation easement, and authorize the Chair and the Clerk to sign the conservation <br /> easement agreement, subject to final review by staff and County Attorney, with a closing and <br /> recordation of the document expected to occur on or about December 15, 2016. <br /> VOTE: UNANIMOUS <br /> b. Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program - Voluntary and Enhanced Agricultural <br /> District Designations - Multiple Farms - Bonham; Mulligan/Carter; Myers; Lloyd; & <br /> Brooks <br /> The Board considered voting to approve applications from multiple landowners/farms to <br /> certify qualifying farmland within the Schley/Eno, Cedar Grove, New Hope, and High <br /> Rock/Efland Voluntary Agricultural Districts; and enroll the lands in the Orange County <br /> Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) <br /> programs. <br /> Gail Hughes, Soil Conservationist, reviewed the following information and PowerPoint <br /> presentation: <br /> Orange County's Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in 1992. To date, 73 <br /> farms have enrolled in the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) program and the Enhanced <br /> Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program, totaling 10,917 acres (rounded) in the program. <br /> The County's Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the <br /> Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and <br /> to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and <br /> modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for <br /> inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: <br /> a) Be located in the unincorporated area of Orange County; <br /> b) Be engaged in Agriculture as that word is defined in NC GS 106-581.1 <br /> c) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) 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 are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, <br /> forestry <br /> products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; <br /> d) Be managed in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NC <br /> Soil and Water Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are <br />