Orange County 2019 Legislative Agenda Documents

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5 for the future construction of roads intended to be added to the State Maintained system. Presently there is no mechanism where a county can collect fees in lieu of transportation improvement construction based on conditions agreed to by both parties during a conditional zoning process. These fees may be for a developer fair share of a future comprehensive intersection improvement but would not be built by NCDOT until other funding could be assigned to do a complete improvement; 16)Bona Fide Farm Use — Support legislation clarifying that the farm use and agriculture exemption of 153A-340 that restricts local zoning authority applies only to property on which the production of crops or livestock is the primary use. Clarify that marketing and agri-tourism activities must be secondary uses of the property and do not qualify for the exemption in the absence of the production of crops or livestock; 17)Revenue Options for Local Government — Support efforts to preserve and expand the existing local revenue base of counties and authorize local option revenue sources already given to any other jurisdiction to all counties. Oppose efforts to divert to the state fees or taxes currently allocated to the counties or to erode existing county revenue streams; 18)E-911 Funds — Support protection and broader applications of the NC 9- 1-1 Fund to be used primarily for assuring that 9-1-1 systems are able to upgrade existing performance levels in order to pay for 9-1-1 operations or 9-1-1 related upgrades such as the infrastructure needed to migrate to next-generation (NG911) technology. Orange County has appreciated past efforts and supports future initiatives to assure our citizens are provided continued access to emergency services from all sources; 19)Renewable Energy — Support renewable energy initiatives available to residential, commercial, industrial and agricultural activities to create a market for energy credits. This support will provide incentives to produce renewable energy, which will become increasingly important to preserving and strengthening the economy and infrastructure, and in the case of agriculture help maintain rural heritage and culture; 20)Land, Water and Agricultural Preservation Funding — Support Park, Agricultural Preservation, Clean Water Management and other existing trust funds established for the protection of the State's land, water, biological resources, agriculture, and special places before they are irreversibly lost, and request that these funds receive additional funding, preferably through dedicated funding sources; 21)Agriculture — Support Conservation of Working Lands and Farmland Preservation — Support a revision to the revenue and acreage requirements of the Use Value Program to reduce acreage requirements, balanced by increasing the income threshold;