Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
23 <br />Page 4 <br />AFT CONFERENCE <br />farmland preservation report <br />Loudoun pairs PDR <br />with local farm <br />viability program <br />Continued from page 3 <br />concept was to provide water -cost and reliability <br />incentives in exchange for 20 to 40 -year ease- <br />ments. For example, a 40 -year protection agree- <br />ment would net water supply at a 50 percent <br />discount and a guarantee of delivery even during <br />drought. <br />AFT released the Reisner white paper in <br />1997, but Reisner's death a few years later <br />squelched the project's momentum, Thompson <br />said. <br />The problems of agriculture in high- growth <br />regions was highlighted in a session on Loudoun <br />County, Va. and the challenges it is facing as a <br />major attraction in the Washington, D.C. housing <br />market. <br />Loudoun County recently made waves by <br />downzoning a large part of its land area in an <br />attempt to save its remaining farmland. The <br />action removed 80,000 potential residential units <br />and put the county on the defensive against <br />scores of lawsuits seeking vested rights in build- <br />ing plans submitted. <br />Loudoun County's population has increased <br />by 48 percent since 1997 and is the second <br />fastest growing county in the nation. Nearly <br />6,000 residential building permits were issued in <br />2002, a 95 percent increase over 1997. The <br />county expects to build 25 new schools by 2008. <br />PDR paired with local farm viability program <br />Yet, Loudoun officials and residents began <br />devising. a farmland protection plan in 1999 that <br />included a purchase of development rights <br />program. A task force even talked about "a <br />thriving rural economy" that needed "a critical <br />mass of agricultural land_" <br />March 2003 <br />Economic development for <br />agriculture, Loudoun County, Va. <br />Farm Viability Program <br />• County - funded grants to innovative ag <br />businesses <br />• Grants for infrastructure, $5 -28 k <br />• Grantee restricts development 5 -10 years <br />• Patterned after Massachusetts program <br />Other effbits, focus on ag <br />• Opportunity for "rural recapitalization" <br />• High value ag potential <br />• Access to new markets <br />• Provide targeted technical assistance <br />• Eliminate unnecessary regulatory burden <br />• Operate two farm tours annually . <br />• Operate five farmers markets <br />• Gave pleasure horses a tax break - "Your <br />pleasure horse is somebody else's business" <br />• Recruit appropriate new businesses <br />Loudoun is among the few localities to <br />establish, in tandem with purchase of develop- <br />ment rights, an agricultural economic develop- <br />ment program. It's four - person staff, headed by <br />Lou Nichols, administers the county's own Farm <br />Viability Program (FVP), possibly the only <br />locally- operated grants program for innovative ag <br />business plans. <br />Applicants to the FVP must own 20 acres, <br />have three years experience in farming, and <br />provide a 30 percent match. The grantee must <br />restrict development for five or 10 years. Grants <br />for infrastructure range from $5000 to $28,000. <br />Funded with $200,000 in county appropria- <br />tions, the program is patterned after the Massa- <br />chusetts program (see FPR, Feb. 2003). <br />Nichols said he dreams of creating a "Center <br />for Rural Innovation," a facility that would bring <br />together research and businesses, where lab <br />space and royalties would be shared. <br />Continued on page 5 <br />