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04- 12 -'02 09 :50 FROM- Coleman Gledhill & H 9191234567 T -944 P03/08 U -150 Mr. David Stancil Page 2 April 12, 2002 easement cannot be reduced to a line or two. The sense of this is captured in the Durham County Code provisions that relate to Durham's County's conservation easement requirements. wn my view a conservation agreement between a landowner and the County required in a Farmland Preservation Program is comparable to what is required in a conservation easement. The difference is that a farmland preservation agreement is revocable on short notice; a conservation easement is typically perpetual. Furthermore, a farmland preservation agreement must be designed to create a legal interest in the farmland in order for it to be mapped and identified as part of a voluntary agricultural district in the County land records. Of the documents I reviewed, only the Alamance County documents create, in the ordinance, a requirement for a conservation agreement as defined in G.S. S 121 -35 and in the applicaition apparently ignore that requirement. I cannot toll you whether Alamance County or other counties are operating their voluntary farmland preservation programs without requiring substantive conservation agreements. I can say that in my opinion a voluntary agricultural preservation program that operates without substantive agricultural conservation agreements meets neither the language nor the spirit of the Enabling Act. In the hope that the conservation agreement will not unnecessarily worry farmers, I have reduced it to what is, in my view, bare bones. The length of the document has been reduced by one half. I hope what's enclosed will help with keeping the Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program vital,. If I can provide anything else to help in that regard, please advise. GEG11sg Enclosures 13g:1attera \ztancl1farm1and.1tr Very truly yours, CQLEMM , GLEDH I LIL & HARGRAVE , P.C. Gledhill 19,