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Approved 12/12/16 <br />OC Board of Adjustment – 10/10/16 Page 83 of 113 <br /> <br /> <br />LeAnne Brown: Can I ask Mr. White just a couple of questions… You are providing an opinion reportedly as 1 <br />an expert in this hearing and what I heard you say is that you have read the North Carolina General 2 <br />Statutes and that it's your opinion that this operation meets the statutory definition of agritourism. Is that a 3 <br />legal opinion you're reporting to provide? 4 <br /> 5 <br />Erin White: It's not. 6 <br /> 7 <br />LeAnne Brown: And you are not trained as a lawyer, is that correct? 8 <br /> 9 <br />Erin White: Correct. 10 <br /> 11 <br />LeAnne Brown: With regard to Orange County's interest in preserving farmland; would that interest in 12 <br />Orange County extend to other individuals, and farming communities, and their properties, and their use of 13 <br />their property for agricultural purposes? Or does it only extend to new farmers? 14 <br /> 15 <br />Erin White: Well to your last question certainly not. Orange County has a demonstrated interest in 16 <br />preserving farmland and building viability in existing farm operations and values alongside the addition of 17 <br />new farmers and new operations to help build the agricultural sector. 18 <br /> 19 <br />LeAnne Brown: So if the property owned by SPG is surrounded by properties that are also farm properties 20 <br />that meet their criteria of the statute to be classified as a farm would you not agree that Orange County has 21 <br />an interest in preserving the lifestyle of all of those individuals as well? 22 <br /> 23 <br />Erin White: I don't know how the documents I reviewed to speak to the lifestyle of any particular farmers or 24 <br />property owners. It speaks to economic activities. It speaks to agricultural activities. But to the question 25 <br />specifically of lifestyle I'm not sure how to answer that based on what I reviewed. 26 <br /> 27 <br />LeAnne Brown: Well let's take it apart. With the documents you read speaking to the importance of 28 <br />preserving the other farms in the area, in the general vicinity of the property owned buy SPG, are those 29 <br />farms as important as what you refer it to be to the farm by SPG under Orange County's planning 30 <br />documents? 31 <br /> 32 <br />Erin White: So the planning documents do not speak to any of these properties specifically to your first 33 <br />question. And under the planning documents none of the properties would have a greater importance than 34 <br />any of the others. 35 <br /> 36 <br />Leann Brown: Nor a lesser importance? 37 <br />Erin White: Correct. 38 <br /> 39 <br />LeAnne Brown: I have no further questions. 40 <br /> 41 <br />Andy: Thank you that concludes our presentation of evidence. 42 <br /> 43 <br />Karen Barrows: So are we up to our closing arguments? 44 <br /> 45 <br />LeAnne Brown: I have just a tiny bit of rebuttal evidence, and I mean very tiny, based on a document that 46 <br />was marked tonight I would like to. And I didn't plan to introduced this but I'm going to. Let me show this to 47 <br />you Andy so that you have it. 48 <br /> 49