Orange County NC Website
DRAFT <br /> 36 <br />performed on the farm agricultural and farming also include the marketing and selling of agricultural 1 <br />products, agro-tourism, the storage and use of materials for agricultural purposes, packing, trading, 2 <br />processing, sorting, storage, and other activities performed to add value to crops, livestock, and 3 <br />agricultural items produced on the farm and similar activities that are incident to the operation of 4 <br />the farm. Let me go back to my tomato stand. My tomato stand is incident to my growing tomatoes 5 <br />on my farm. I’m just going sell me some of them. That makes perfectly good sense. You cannot 6 <br />skip, when you go to this as your next definition, you cannot skip this cogent incidental, it’s 7 <br />incidental to. And so the finding that Mr. Harvey made that the that the this is incidental to is really 8 <br />without explanation as to how that ties back to the particular facts. And so that is your next error. 9 <br />Mr. Harvey then talks about article 10 in the definitions of the UDO, and it defines agro-tourism as 10 <br />a business directly related or incidental to agricultural activities occurring on a bona fide farm, 11 <br />which is located and conducted for employment or education of the public. He then uses the 12 <br />Merriam-Webster dictionary definition of agro-tourism as a practice of touring agricultural areas to 13 <br />see farms and often to participate in farm activities. Well I suppose when you’re having a wedding I 14 <br />guess you see the farm, kind of. I’m not concerned about the kindergarten children. You’ll notice I 15 <br />didn’t ask any questions about the exhibit about the kindergarten children go out there and look at 16 <br />flowers. Perhaps that’s some form of agro-tourism if there’s farming going on. But this wedding 17 <br />venue concept, an event center concept, is not about coming out and looking at a farm. It’s not 18 <br />about coming out and commuting with the chestnuts, or picking a few flowers for your wedding, it is 19 <br />a wedding venue. It’s about the weddings. Of the seventeen brides coming out there I bet every 20 <br />one of them thinks it’s about their wedding. Because that’s what it is. It’s a wedding envue. It’s a 21 <br />wedding venue. So again, in the concept of what agro-tourism is, an occasional wedding on you 22 <br />farm. If you want to get married on a farm and a farmer has an occasional wedding on a farm that’s 23 <br />a very different concept. I live next door to Brenda Leeper’s wedding venue and people get married 24 <br />out there from time to time. Not terribly often. She lives off of the main thoroughfare. She lives on 25 <br />top of a whole bunch of subdivisions. There’s not much farming going on around her that’s for sure. 26 <br />She’s about the only farm out there. She owns an urban farm. But when people get married out 27 <br />there they’re getting married out there with the goats wandering around and they have an 28 <br />occasional wedding, it’s out in an open building and lovely though it is, it’s designed not for every 29 <br />kind of wedding. This is truly a wedding venue. We looked at some of the website picture before 30 <br />and it’s designed for lovely weddings, it’s designed for formal weddings, it’s designed for weddings 31 <br />that involve lace shoes and roses for flowers. It’s not a wedding that’s, a wedding venue that’s 32 <br />about being on a farm. And so the determination by Mr. Harvey that somehow this wedding and 33 <br />event center venue that use, that’s the only use I’m here talking about, weddings and events, that 34 <br />are of that kind of magnitude are not incidental to anything going on that property, either when you 35 <br />heard it or as it was supplemented tonight. So Mr. Harvey’s conclusion that the use of the barn 36 <br />structure for weddings is related and incidental to the property being used for a bona fide farm 37 <br />purpose is not tied back to any facts to support it in his opinion. And it’s not tied back to facts, 38 <br />because if you tie it back to the facts you found that you can’t get there. We then have Mr. Harvey’s 39 <br />advisory opinion about the building code, which I think is also a very serious thing and I want to 40 <br />speak to it briefly. Actually, I want to back up and just mention 99e-30, which is the other place that 41 <br />we see mention of agro-tourism and I want to point out to the Board that that particular statute is 42 <br />fairly broad because it’s the agricultural activity, agro-tourism activity liability act, and it’s designed 43 <br />to help people get exemptions from liability under certain things. It’s not a definition that’s even 44 <br />incorporated into 150a. So, just want to mention that to you as we use that. The building code 45 <br />issue is again not the issue that’s before you. The building code requirements stand separate and 46 <br />apart as they are currently written to the zoning power. The zoning power is the power given by the 47