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December 15, 2010 Meeting Summary 1 <br />AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION BOARD - MEETING SUMMARY <br />December 15, 2010 <br /> <br />MEMBERS PRESENT: Roland Walters, Elizabeth Walters, Howard McAdams and Spence Dickinson. <br /> <br />MEMBERS ABSENT/EXCUSED: Louise Tate, James and Patricia Wynn, Patrick McGarry, Joe Thompson <br />and Allan Green <br /> <br />GUESTS: Bernadette Pelissier, Board of County Commissioners; <br />STAFF: Rich Shaw and Tina Moon, Natural and Cultural Division <br /> Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation <br /> Noah Ranells, Economic Development <br /> <br />ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER <br />Chair Roland Walters called the meeting to order at 7:43 p.m. <br /> <br />ITEM #2: CHAIR COMMENTS (none) <br /> <br />ITEM #3: CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA <br />Staff requested some time at the end of the meeting to share a memorandum from the County Attorney <br />regarding the Board of County Commissioners’ Code of Ethics—added as Discussion Item #6.4. <br /> <br />ITEM #4: APPROVAL OF MINUTES November 17, 2010 <br />Approval of the November minutes was postponed until January due to the lack of a quorum. <br /> <br />ITEM #5: ITEMS FOR DECISION <br /> a. 2011 Meeting Calendar <br />Staff explained that every year each advisory board formally approves its meeting calendar for the upcoming <br />year. Once approved, the calendars can be shared with the public. The APB postponed the formal decision <br />until January but discussed the dates on the calendar. <br /> <br />McAdams asked if the APB needed to meet every month. During the BOCC’s review of advisory boards, the <br />APB and staff discussed the idea of holding fewer meetings. APB members present discussed the idea <br />again, and agreed that they would prefer to schedule meetings for every other month (starting in January <br />2011) and call special meetings as necessary to fulfill specific timelines such as reviewing Voluntary <br />Agricultural District applications. <br /> <br />ITEM #6: ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION <br />a. Interest and Opportunities to Lease Farms – Part 2 <br />At the last meeting (November) the APB listened to presentations from David Heeks and Rich Shaw, and <br />comments from Andrew Branan and Noah Ranells about ways to lease land to farmers. This topic is an <br />extension of past APB discussions on ways to keep farmland in production. The Part 2 session was designed <br />to hear more on the topic from the landowner’s prospective. What would have to happen for a large <br />landowner to lease some/all of his land to an up and coming farmer? <br /> <br />One of the interesting points in Mr. Heeks’ presentation in November was the idea of a farmer looking to <br />establish a 99-year lease arrangement. McAdams argued that a 1-5 year lease is probably the maximum <br />time that a farmer would want to commit—due in part to the amount of unknowns in farming. Heeks also <br />mentioned a pilot program in Durham where the Soil and Water Conservation District would “broker” a large <br />tract of land by leasing it in sections to smaller farmers. The landowner would receive a single payment <br />while Soil and Water would arrange for the smaller payments. The APB members present felt that Orange <br />County should refrain from getting too involved in lease transactions; those types of business arrangements <br />are better left to private enterprise. <br /> <br />One area where the county could help would be to advertise land that is available for lease and list farmers <br />who are looking for land. Traditionally that type of information was word of mouth, but today the Internet