Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
28 <br />Land Use Adjacent To ShtLe- <br />Points <br />All sides in agriculture /forest use 10.0 <br />One side adjacent to nonagricultural land 7.5 <br />Two sides adjacent to nonagricultural land 5.0 <br />Three sides adjacent to nonagricultural land 2.5 <br />Site surrounded by nonagricultural land 0.0 <br />While the assignment of points is straightforward, determining <br />whether or not an adjacent side is or is not in agricultural use <br />may be difficult. Suppose, for example, a site is bounded on one <br />side by a church, the church property line represents only 20 <br />percent of the site boundary on that side, and all of the remaining <br />land adjoining the site is in agricultural use. Is the site to be <br />given 7.5 points, since one side is adjacent to nonagricultural <br />land; e.g., the church, or is it to be given 10.0 points, since <br />the vast majority of land (80 %) on that side is in agricultural <br />use? <br />Using a system similar to that used for "Percent of Area in <br />Agriculture /Forest Use" will overcome this difficulty by basing the <br />assignment of points on the percentage of land adjacent to a site <br />in agriculture /forest use. <br />Percent of Adjacent Land in <br />Agriculture /Forest Use <br />Points <br />80 <br />to <br />100 <br />percent <br />10.0 <br />60 <br />to <br />80 <br />percent <br />7.5 <br />40 <br />to <br />60 <br />percent <br />5.0 <br />20 <br />to <br />40 <br />percent <br />2.5 <br />0 <br />to <br />20 <br />percent <br />0.0 <br />Another advantage in using this system is that the data used <br />to assign points can be used to determine the percent of adjacent <br />land in agriculture /forest use. This is done by calculating the <br />distance that each adjoining agricultural use fronts on the site <br />and converting the total distance to a percentage. <br />Probability oi,Conversion <br />If a ' -goal of the purchase of development rights program is to <br />slow the, -.=--conversion of agricultural land to nonfarm purposes, <br />points should be awarded to those farms which have the greatest <br />probability of conversion. As shown below, 10 points' is to be <br />awarded to the farm which is subject to potential forced sale. <br />Examples of this situation may be a farmer who suffered a severe <br />crop loss due to some natural occurrence such as a drought, has <br />overextended credit, or is unable to work due to an accident or <br />health rewasons, all of which require capital. The farmer may wish. <br />to continue farming but cannot due to the lack of funds. The <br />infusion of capital through purchase of development rights may be <br />all that is needed to promote the continuation of the farm unit. <br />