Agenda - 02-19-2002 - 9a - Laserfiche WebLink

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12 6. Allow agriculture community to open burn only a specific(limited) acreage per year. Description: This alternative assumes the agriculture community, through the ordinance, could be allowed to open burn a very limited amount of acreage per year,perhaps through a special permitting process, that could also contain other conditions such as time of day,prevailing direction and speed of wind, distance from adjacent properties/dwellings, etc. Key Issues: • County Attorney would have to evaluate whether this type arrangement would be lawful. • Would allow open burning in only a very limited, controlled way. • Would address the BOCC interest in limiting the impact of the prohibition of open burning on the agriculture community. • Would be necessary to develop criteria for determining a legitimate agriculture use. • Permitting authority would have to be identified, i.e. Emergency Management, Solid Waste, Cooperative Extension, Environment and Resource Conversation, etc. • Inconsistent with BOCC interest in prohibiting open burning. Cost: • Virtually no new cost burden for the agriculture community. • Would require no additional equipment or new operations for the Solid Waste Management Department, aside from some level ofpermitting Are options available to subsidize costs associated with alternatives to open burning within the agriculture community? Should the Board choose to utilize the Solid Waste Management Fund to pay for the recycling of landclearing debris from private property within Orange County, the County Attorney believes it would be able to do so. However,this service could not be limited to the agriculture community but would need to also be made available to the development community. If the Board wishes to make the service available to only the agriculture community we believe it may be able to do so,however the service must be subsidized by non-Solid Waste Management funding or the Solid Waste Management Fund must be reimbursed for expenses related to promoting or preserving agriculture/economic development. Could the"use value" tax designation be utilized in considering special accommodations for agriculture burning? In order to verify that a potential site is subject to an agriculture related subsidy or special service, some method must be developed to verify that such a site is legitimately involved in agriculture. It has been suggested that the agriculture"use tax"designation could serve this purpose. The"use tax" designation was developed in the 1970's to protect agriculture land from increasing tax burdens. Property of a minimum 10 acres in size used in pasture or under active cultivation is eligible. 10