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7 <br />DpQff4 ;� <br />Further discussion indicated that the Board wished to retain <br />the minimum acreage requirement of 155 acres. The farm size <br />specified in the ordinance is the average farm size in Orange <br />County according to the 1987 Census of Agriculture. The <br />Board felt that any combinations to meet the requirement <br />should be contiguous. If the Board desired to make <br />adjustments in those figures, such amendments could be <br />proposed after the ordinance was adopted, and experience <br />indicated whether a size change was warranted. <br />Collins indicated that another concern was with the <br />prohibition on County expenditures to convert farmland to non <br />farm use and whether the Agricultural Districts Advisory <br />Board is the appropriate body to approve the district <br />designation. Collins noted that revisions had been proposed <br />(on pages 16 and 17 of the packet) which would be the <br />solution to this concern. These amendments would allow the <br />Agricultural Districts Advisory Board to approve <br />certifications of qualifying farmland and then make a <br />recommendation to the Board of Commissioners for the <br />establishment of an agricultural district. This would follow <br />the legislation which states that the Agricultural <br />Advisory Board "reviews and recommends ". When the statute <br />refers to a conservation agreement, it states that "the <br />County may enter into a conservation agreement ". The <br />reference to "the County" generally means the Board of County <br />Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners would thus <br />establish the districts and enter into the conservation <br />agreement. The "holder of the agreement" is the County. The <br />Planning Director and the County Attorney had agreed that the <br />conservation agreement could contain the restrictions rather <br />than including those restrictions in the ordinance. Such <br />restrictions, if approved by the Commissioners, would apply <br />to the farmer and to the County. <br />Walker asked that "as specified in the Food Security Act of <br />1985" be added to Section V, Cl (c) of the proposed <br />ordinance which would then read as: <br />Be managed, if highly erodible land exists on the <br />farm, in accordance with the Soil Conservation <br />Service defined erosion - control practices as specified <br />in the Food Security Act of 1985- <br />MOTION: Stewart made a motion to recommend approval of the revisions <br />to the Farmland Preservation Program Ordinance as proposed <br />by Collins and the addition as requested by Walker (SCS). <br />Seconded by Nutter. Vote: Unanimous. <br />MOTION: Nutter made a motion to recommend that the Farmland <br />Preservation Program Ordinance, as revised, be forwarded to <br />the Board of Commissioners for approval and adoption, and, <br />