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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: November 16, 2004 <br />Action Agenda <br />Item No. 6 - 4 <br />SUBJECT: Resolution of Approval and Acceptance of Grant —Agricultural Conservation <br />Easement with Ira and Hazel Ward <br />DEPARTMENT: Environment and Resource PUBLIC HEARING: (Y /N) No <br />Conservation <br />ATTACHMENT <br />Resolution of Approval <br />Site Map <br />Draft Conservation Easement <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />David Stancil, 245 -2590 <br />Rich Shaw. 245 -2591 <br />TELEPHONE NUMBERS: <br />Hillsborough <br />732 -8181 <br />Chapel Hill <br />968 -4501 <br />Durham <br />688 -7331 <br />Mebane 336- 227 -2031 <br />PURPOSE: To consider a resolution to approve the acceptance by Orange County of a <br />agricultural conservation easement from Ira and Hazel Ward, and acceptance of a grant from <br />the federal Farm and Ranch Land Protection Program. <br />BACKGROUND: The acquisition of agricultural conservation easements to help preserve <br />prime farmland in Orange County is a longstanding goal of the Board of Commissioners, and <br />is a priority of the Lands Legacy Program. Since completing the County's first agricultural <br />conservation easement in 2001, Orange County has protected 473 acres of prime farmland <br />and riparian buffers with conservation easements. <br />In July 2002, Orange County, in cooperation with the Orange NRCS /Soil and Water <br />Conservation Office, applied for matching funds from the federal Farm and Ranch Land <br />Protection Program to purchase non- agricultural development rights for three farms — one of <br />which is owned by Ira and Hazel Ward. Market appraisals were conducted to determine the <br />purchase price for the easements. Grant funds totaling $784,155 for the three farms were <br />awarded in September 2002. Of that total, $210,750 was allocated to the Ward farm. The <br />remaining grant funds were used to acquire easements on the Walters and Cheek farms. <br />The Wards raise beef cattle and row crops on farmland they have owned for 45 years. The <br />farm is on two sides of Ira Road (Cheeks Township), and is situated on a ridge that <br />separates the Upper Eno and Back Creek watersheds. The farm is divided into four adjacent <br />tracts, each tract owned by one of the Ward children. The parents (Ira and Hazel) have a life <br />estate over the entire farm, which they manage with assistance from their son Johnny. <br />