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1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: December 5, 2016 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 4-b <br /> SUBJECT: Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program - Voluntary and Enhanced <br /> Agricultural District Designations - Multiple Farms - Bonham; Mulligan/Carter; <br /> Myers; Lloyd; & Brooks <br /> DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks <br /> & Recreation (DEAPR)— Soil <br /> and Water Conservation <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> 1) Overall Map David Stancil, 919-245-2510 <br /> 2) Applications and Maps Gail M. Hughes, 919-245-2753 <br /> Peter Sand beck, 919-245-2517 <br /> PURPOSE: To consider applications from multiple landowners/farms to certify qualifying <br /> farmland within the Schley/Eno, Cedar Grove, New Hope, and High Rock/Efland Voluntary <br /> Agricultural Districts; and enroll the lands in the Orange County Voluntary Agricultural District <br /> (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) programs. <br /> BACKGROUND: Orange County's Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in <br /> 1992. To date, 73 farms have enrolled in the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) program and <br /> the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program, totaling 10,917 acres (rounded) in <br /> 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, forestry <br /> products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; <br /> d) Be managed in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NC Soil <br /> and Water Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are addressed to <br /> said highly-erodible land; and have a current conservation farm plan and/or forestry <br /> management plan associated with the current usages and owner; and <br />