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Notes General Notes Agricultural District Ordinance Notes 09/10/03 25 Some counties have included within their agricultural district ordinance, and often under the "incentives" section of the ordinance, a public expenditures provision. This provision is sometimes entitled "Expenditure of County Funds for Non -Farm Uses". This provision requires that when the county or any other unit of local government proposes to spend county funds on projects or activities that would convert land in voluntary agricultural districts to non -farm uses, it shall submit to the Advisory Board that the county or other governmental unit has considered other alternatives before spending such funds. Article II The county may also rely on the general ordinance making authority delegated to counties through Chapter 153A to supplement provisions contained in N.C.G.S. § 106 -735, et. seq. Article V, Sections A& B The county may want to consider basing the minimum number of Advisory Board members (i.e., the number prior to the creation of any agricultural districts) on the expected regions that may be established within a county. This would allow the entire county to be represented on a geographical basis regardless of whether or not a region of the county actually contained an agricultural district. It would also ensure that regions of the county that do not contain agricultural districts, but that are adjacent to or that would somehow otherwise be affected by agricultural districts in a county, would be involved in the creation and maintenance of those districts. There are three possible advantages to establishing regions within which voluntary agricultural districts maybe formed: l .) The formation of a single district within each such region will stabilize the representation on the Advisory Board because the maximum total number of districts is fixed in advance by the number of regions established. Farms with noncontiguous acreage may be contained in a single district within a region. A region is not a district; only land actually enrolled within a region constitutes a district. 2.) The designation of such areas contributes to the formation of large blocks of contiguous or noncontiguous (though spatially close) protected areas of farmland. 3.) District formation can be more easily coordinated with the county's comprehensive land use plan and its farmland protection plan. 2