Agenda 8-j - Resolutions of Approval – Conservation Easements on Two Eno River Association Properties and Approval of Budget Amendment #8-C

Browse Search

Page 3 of 18 recognized by, and this Conservation Easement will also serve, the following clearly delineated governmental conservation policies: (1) the Orange County Board of Commissioners’ goal (adopted June 21, 1999) to identify and coordinate the preservation of the County’s most significant natural areas; and (2) Natural & Cultural Systems Goal 7 of the Orange County Comprehensive Plan (adopted by the Orange County Board of Commissioners in 200 83, as amended) to maintain a “balanced and healthy diversity of native plant and animal populations” and “conserve high - priority natural areas and wildlife habitats, including wetlands, rivers and streams, floodplains, steep slopes, prime forests, wildlife corridors, and other critical habitats;. ” and (3) the Orange County Lands Legacy Action Plan, which was adopted by the Orange County Board of Commissioners on December 12, 2017, and which recognizes the need to protect riparian buffers in the critical area of the Upper Eno protected watershed; and (4) the protection of similar Orange County properties designed to protect conservation and open space values through conservation easements granted to the Grantee and others in the immediate vicinity of the Easement Area; and (5) Article XIV Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of North Carolina, which states “It shall be the policy of the State to conserve and protect its lands and waters for the benefit of all its citizenry, and to this end it shall be a proper function of the State of North Carolina and its political subdivisions to acquire and preserve park, recreational, and scenic areas, to control and limit the pollution of our air and water, to control excessive noise, and in every other appropriate way to preserve as a part of the common heritage of this state its forests, wetlands, estuaries, beaches, historical sites, openlands, and places of beauty;” (6) NCGS § 139-2 et seq., which provides that “it is hereby declared …that the farm, forest and grazing lands of the State of North Carolina are among the basic assets of the State and the preservation of these lands is necessary to protect and promote the health, safety and general welfare of its people… it is hereby declared to be the policy of the legislature to provide for the conservation of the soil and resources of this State”; and (7) the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, authorized by NCGS § 143B- 135.234 et seq., which finances projects to acquire land and interests in land, including conservation easements for the purposes of providing environmental protection for surface waters and urban drinking water supplies; and (8) the Soil and Water Conservation Districts Act, authorized by NCGS § 139-1, et seq., which provides for the preservation of farm, forest and grazing lands; and (9) the zoning of the property by Orange County as Agricultural Residential. 15