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rr <br />ORANGE COUNTY <br />Farmland Ranking System <br />The Farmland Ranking System is to be used to rank, or prioritize, applications received from <br />landowners seeking sale or donation of their development rights. The System can also be used <br />for evaluating conversion impact. <br />The System consists of two parts: <br />1. Site Assessment Criteria: <br />This part of the system consists of factors, most of which are related to <br />development pressures and development capability /suitability of a particular farm parcel. <br />and its surrounding area. Each factor is assigned a point value based on its relative <br />importance to other factors. <br />2. Soil Assessment Criteria: <br />All soils in Orange County have been rated and placed into groups ranging from the <br />most productive farmland to the least productive. A relative value has been determined <br />for each group —the best group is assigned the highest value and all the other groups <br />are assigned lower values. <br />To determine the total value of a given parcel, the values for the Site Assessment and Soil <br />Assessment criteria are added together. <br />Site Assessment Criteria <br />The following information describes the criteria to be used in site evaluation in administering the <br />Farmland Preservation Program. Point values and the criteria for allocation of ranking points <br />are listed below. <br />1. Probability of Conversion (weight –100 points) <br />Property subject to potential forced sale <br />100 points <br />Property subject to estate settlement sale <br />75 points <br />Property actively marketed for voluntary sale <br />50 points <br />2. Consistency with Comprehensive Plan <br />a. Proximity to Planned Development <br />Non - Agricultural development planned adjacent <br />50 points <br />Non - Agricultural development planned within % mile <br />40 points <br />Non - Agricultural development planned within 1/2 mile <br />30 points <br />Non - Agricultural development planned within 1 mile <br />20 points <br />Planned agriculture within 1 mile <br />10 points <br />b. Proximity to Public Water and Sewer (weight – 50 points) <br />Existing service area adjacent <br />50 points <br />Existing service area within % mile <br />40 points <br />Planned service area within % mile <br />35 points <br />F:\ PLANNING \T( boon\ ERCD \APS\AgPres \FarmRankSystem2.doc <br />