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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: September 21, 2004 <br />Action Age5~ <br />Item No. <br />SUBJECT: Voluntary Agricultural District Designation -Walters Property <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment and Resource <br />Conservation <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />1) Application <br />2) Vicinity Map and Soils Information <br />3) Certification from NRCS <br />4) Certification from Tax Supervisor <br />5) APB Minutes August 18, 2004 <br />6) Draft Conservation Agreement <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, ERC Director, 245-2590 <br />Tina Moon, Preservation Planner, 245-2583 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough 732-8181 <br />Chapel Hill 968-4501 <br />Durham 688-7331 <br />Mebane 336-227-2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider an application from Carl and Elizabeth Walters far certification as <br />qualifying farmland and designation of 173 acres as an addition to their Voluntary Agricultural <br />District. <br />BACKGROUND: Carl and Elizabeth Walters have submitted an application to add additional <br />lands to the County's Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) Program, The Walters currently have <br />three tracts of their farm totaling 205 acres in the VAD program, The additional 173 acres of <br />the parcel in question would increase the acreage in their existing district to almost 378 acres, <br />The attached map shows the location of this new tract along with the three tracts currently <br />enrolled in the VAD program. The County's adopted Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program <br />Ordinance provides that the Agricultural Preservation Board is to review and approve applications <br />for qualifying farmland, and make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning <br />the establishment and modification of agricultural districts. Section V of the Voluntary Farmland <br />Preservation Program Ordinance contains the requirements for inclusion in a voluntary agricultural <br />district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: <br />1. Be participating in the farm present use-value taxation program established by the N,C, <br />General Statutes, Sections 105-277.2 through 105-277,7, or is otherwise determined by <br />the County to meet all the qualifications of this program set forth in the N.C, General <br />Statutes, Sections 105-277,3, <br />2, Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service of the United States <br />Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is <br />composed of soils that: <br />a, Are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, and oil seed crops; <br />i <br />