Agenda - 06-23-2005-9e - Laserfiche WebLink

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18 Orange County Environment ~sz Resource Conservation 306_A Revere Road. / PO Uox 8181. H.illsbonnt~h, NC 27278 Phone: (919) 245-?590, Fax: (919) 644-3.351 MEMORANDl1M TO: Board of Commissioners John Link, County Manager FROM: David Stancil, Environment and Resource Conservation Director DATE: June 23, 2005 RE: Voluntary Farmland Preservation Ordinance In 1985 the State of North Carolina passed the Farmland Enabling Act authorizing counties to establish local farmland preservation programs and, specifically, Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) programs. Orange County, one of the first counties to take advantage of the new legislation, adopted its Voluntary Farmland Preservation ordinance (VFPO) in 1992, During the next twenty years from 1992-2002, 1,600 acres were enrolled due to the active efforts of many farm families interested in farmland preservation. A total of 2,045 acres are currently enrolled, While a handful of other counties around the state adopted like ordinances, for the most part the voluntary program across the state did not see much activity, However, in the last few years, this program has undergone a renaissance of sorts, with a new model ordinance developed by the program staff an NCSU. Many counties have recently adopted voluntary farmland preservation ordinances and have implemented more "friendly" standards, based on the new model, yielding much greater levels of participation in the thousands of acres,. Farms enrolled in the Voluntary Agricultural District program must be certified as qualifying farmland and participate in the Use Value tax program. Farm owners wishing to participate then sign anon-binding 10-year conservation agreement that prohibits non-farm use, In exchange, farms receive a participation sign, protection against nuisance suits (1/2-mile radius notification to new buyers), waiver of any future water and sewer assessments and connection charges (until such time as they connect to said service), requirement of a public hearing prior to condemnation of lands by State or local governments, and consideration as a conservation area in review of adjoining new developments. In 2003, the Agricultural Preservation Board (APB) proposed amending the County's program to incorporate elements of the new model. Members voiced concern over the acreage requirement (80-acre minimum in the current ordinance), which prevents small farms and new alternative/organic operations -most of whom operate under this acreage threshold -from participating in the program. The APB also examined the actual statutory language, the new model ordinance and the potential for confusion over the definition of key terms, particularly "voluntary agricultural district." In the early ordinances (including Orange County's), a district