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zone. Carve out of whatever land plan we're doing, the rural area elements and try to make those a bit separate so that they 're not all tied in together. On the areas that are likely to get development, we've got one set of rules and concentrations that we're working on but we have a different kind of emphasis for the more rural two- thirds of Orange County. We start with the land plan and actually designate those areas as urban transition and then rural. Then we can take the economic development issues that go along with rural versus urban things and focus some things on how do we promote prosperity principally for farmers in the rural area. Then our rural 2/3 of Orange County might quality for some of these programs that we don't qualify for when you blend it all together economically. Gordon that brings up the idea mentioned by Mandell of the rural buffer areas particularly around Chapel Hill and Carrboro becoming built out. He asked if there had been any consideration of the rural buffer area around the 1 -85 and 1 -40 corridor or around Hillsborough. Stancil said that several years ago there was an effort for a cooperative plan with the Town of Hillsborough where there was a designated growth area not called a rural buffer but something kin to that. The idea was proposed, but it didn't go anywhere. I don't know if the new land use committee has delve into that but it may be that some of the land use pattern ideas reflect that type of approach. Gordon said that basically anything within the ETJ is going to get developed and anything outside the ETJ is the county's purview. Stancil said that in Hillsborough's case what is more critical is the fifty -year sewer service area. That's the area where Hillsborough projected they could provide water and sewer over the next time frame of the study. Morrow said that might be a good way to start defining where a transfer of development rights or purchase of development rights program might be concentrated - -where you've got a likely difference between values. So if we had zone within the water and sewer service area that was prime agricultural land, a working farm would really be worth a lot on the PDR program. Kleese asked to keep it on the table that in some way the highest quality soils be preserved for farms not only the land that won't perc for development. Stancil suggested trying to keep in mind the Lands Legacy Program and the Ranking System. Both programs strike a balance between prime farmland and threatened farmland giving them equal weight in terms of the value -- farmland that is in close proximity to an urban area with high development potential and some of the best productive farmland in the more rural areas. Ranells noted that we need to focus on promoting a stewardship ethnic in support of farmers and we need to provide options. Morrow said if we could tie the estate planning issues more directly to the alternatives we're trying to develop, like transfer of development rights, purchase of development rights. That would offer options for estate planning for a farm where the economic value is going to be divided between heirs. The toolbox of options would provide ways to transfer value to the children while still preserving farms. Gordon added that estate taxes on inheritance is now down to the third year, unless they vote to extend the program it's going to go back to the full estate taxes. The potential status change adds a level of uncertainty and makes it difficult to do estate planning. What we have to do is to give value in some way other than relief from estate tax. Mandell suggested using the Land Link idea to help find people to lease land with productive soils and meet the market DRAFT 4