Orange County NC Website
<br /> <br /> <br />Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board <br /> <br />Meeting Summary: November 14th, 2018 <br /> <br />Environmental & Agricultural Center—Food Lab <br />306 Revere Rd., Hillsborough, NC <br />6:30 p.m. <br /> <br />Members Present: Anderson, Compton, Dawson, Finley, McAdams, McKnight, McPherson, A. Parker, Saiers <br /> <br />Members Absent: R. Parker, Ranells, Redding, Shambley, Vanhook <br /> <br />Guests: John Parker, Orange County Food Council <br /> <br />Staff: Gail Hughes, Resource Conservation Coordinator-DEAPR-Orange Soil and Water; Peter Sandbeck, Cultural <br />Resources Coordinator; Mike Ortosky, Ag Economic Development Coordinator <br /> <br />1. Call to order: Chair McPherson called the meeting to order at 6:34 p.m. <br /> <br />2. Chair Comments/Introductions: None. <br /> <br />3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: Shift the Food Council presentation ahead of VAD/EVAD to <br />allow Gail Hughes to get here from another meeting <br /> <br />4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: September 19th, 2018 (Attachment 1): McAdams moved to accept the <br />minutes/summary; seconded by Saiers; motion carried. <br /> <br />5. Items for Decision: <br />a) New VAD/EVAD Applications (Attachment 2): Hughes presented the current applications listed <br />below. All of these farms meet the requirements/criteria for VAD/EVAD enrollment. <br />x Lafleur and VanVeld: 39.84 acres for VAD, Cedar Grove Ag District. The farm is in vegetables, <br />hay crops and bee hives. A. Parker moved to approve, seconded by Compton; motion carried. <br /> <br />x Scarlett: Additional 23.27 acres for VAD, Cedar Grove District. The farm is in pasture, cattle, hay <br />and managed woodlands. Saiers moved to approve, seconded by A. Parker; motion carried. <br /> <br />Hughes reported that with approval of these farms, this will bring us up to 14,302.69 acres in VAD <br />and EVAD. She will present all farms approved in September and this meeting to the BOCC in <br />December. They have worked hard to get more new signs up and will continue in the winter. <br /> <br />b) Review/Approval of draft letter of support for PUV Tax Trust Fund proposal: Dawson and Ortosky <br />reviewed this concept again as a follow up to the discussion at the September meeting. There is a <br />draft letter circulating but awaits review/edits by staff. If the county is generating revenue from <br />losing farmland (ie, when farms are removed from the PUV program for development), it makes <br />sense to be able to dedicate that revenue toward promoting agricultural land preservation and <br />farming activity. Discussion followed. Members agreed with the concept that those funds need to go