Agenda - Item 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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10 A motion was made by Commissioner Rich, seconded by Commissioner Price, to 1 approve the statement. 2 3 VOTE: UNANIMOUS 4 5 Chair Dorosin said the issue of charter schools is very relevant to the BOCC, and the 6 state budget includes the provision for municipalities to provide municipal tax funds for 7 education including for charter schools. He said there is also a bill in the works that will allow 8 municipalities to set up their own charter schools, and it is likely to pass. 9 10 4. Proclamations/ Resolutions/ Special Presentations 11 12 a. Voluntary and Enhanced Agricultural District Designation – Multiple Farms 13 The Board considered approving applications from eight (8) landowners/farms to certify 14 qualifying farmland within the Caldwell, Cedar Grove, and White Cross Voluntary Agricultural 15 Districts; and enroll the lands in the Orange County Farmland Preservation; Voluntary and 16 Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District programs. 17 18 BACKGROUND: 19 Orange County’s Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in 1992. To date, there 20 are 93 farms in both the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary 21 Agricultural District (EVAD) program totaling 12,450** acres. If the BOCC approves the 22 additional eight (8) farms with 893 acres proposed below, there will be 101 farms in both the 23 Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District 24 (EVAD) program totaling 13,343** acres, equal to 5.2% of the 256,595 total acres in Orange 25 County. 26 27 The County’s Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the 28 Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and 29 to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and 30 modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for 31 inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: 32 a) Be located in the unincorporated area of Orange County; 33 b) Be engaged in Agriculture as that word is defined in NC GS 106-581.1 34 c) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United 35 States Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land 36 is composed of soils that are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, 37 forestry products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; 38 d) Be managed in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NC 39 Soil and Water Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are 40 addressed to said highly-erodible land; and have a current conservation farm plan 41 and/or forestry management plan associated with the current usages and owner; and 42 e) Be the subject of a non-binding conservation agreement, as defined in N.C.G.S. §121-43 35, between the County and the owner that prohibits non-farm use or development of 44 such land for a period of at least ten years, except for the creation of not more than 45 three lots that meet applicable County zoning and subdivision regulations. 46 47 The Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board reviewed the findings of the staff 48 assessments for the attached applications for the Orange County Voluntary Agricultural District 49 program at its March and May 2018 meetings. All farm applications were reviewed and verified 50