Agenda - 01-21-20 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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5 1 a. Voluntary and Enhanced Agricultural District Designation — Multiple Farms 2 The Board considered voting to approve applications from seven (7) landowners/farms 3 to certify qualifying farmland within the Caldwell, Cedar Grove, High Rock/Efland, Schley/Eno, 4 Cane Creek/Buckhorn, and White Cross Voluntary Agricultural Districts; and enroll the lands in 5 the Orange County Farmland Preservation Voluntary and Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural 6 District programs. 7 8 Gail Hughes, Soil Conservationist, presented this item: 9 10 BACKGROUND: Orange County's Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in 11 1992. To date, there are 114 farms in both the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the 12 Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program, totaling 15,059 acres. 13 14 The County's Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the 15 Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and 16 to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and 17 modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for 18 inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: 19 20 a) Be located in the unincorporated area of Orange County; 21 b) Be engaged in Agriculture as that word is defined in NC GS 106-581.1 22 c) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United 23 States Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land 24 is composed of soils that are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber, 25 forestry products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; 26 d) Be managed in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NC 27 Soil and Water Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are 28 addressed to said highly-erodible land; and have a current conservation farm plan 29 and/or forestry management plan associated with the current usages and owner; 30 e) Be the subject of a non-binding conservation agreement, as defined in N.C.G.S. §121- 31 35, between the County and the owner that prohibits non-farm use or development of 32 such land for a period of at least ten years, except for the creation of not more than 33 three lots that meet applicable County zoning and subdivision regulations. 34 35 The Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board reviewed the findings of the staff 36 assessments for the attached applications for the Orange County Voluntary Agricultural District 37 program at the September and November 2019 meetings. All farm applications were reviewed 38 and verified to have met or exceeded the minimum criteria for certification into the program. 39 40 The Agricultural Preservation Board voted unanimously to recommend approval of the 41 certification for seven (7) farms, and their inclusion in the Voluntary and/or the Enhanced 42 Voluntary Agricultural District program. The certification documentation is on file in the 43 DEAPR/Soil and Water Conservation District office. The farms are described briefly below: 44 45 Brief Farm Descriptions: 46 1) Owner Richard Jude Samulski (Scuppernong Estates LLC/ Eno River Farm) has 47 submitted an application to enroll one (1) parcel of land totaling 178.18 acres as 48 qualifying farmland for the Voluntary Agricultural District program (VAD) in the 49 Schley/Eno Agricultural District. The farm operation includes strawberries and blueberry 50 production, hay land and managed woodland. Since 1992, a 150-acre portion of the