Agenda - 02-02-2021 Virtual Board Meeting; 8-e - Voluntary Agricultural District Designation

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: February 2, 2021 Action Agenda Item No. 8-e SUBJECT: Voluntary Agricultural District Designation: Multiple Farms DEPARTMENT: DEAPR — Soil and Water Conservation ATTACHMENT(S): Overall County Map, Applications and INFORMATION CONTACT: Maps David Stancil, (919) 245-2510 Peter Sandbeck, (919) 245-2517 PURPOSE: To approve applications from ten (10) landowners/farms to certify qualifying farmland within the Caldwell, Cane Creek/Buckhorn, Cedar Grove, and Schley/Eno Voluntary Agricultural Districts; and enroll the lands in the Orange County Farmland Preservation Program's Voluntary Agricultural District program. BACKGROUND: Orange County's Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program was started in 1992. To date there are 123 farms; in both the Voluntary Agricultural District (VAD) and the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD) program; totaling 15,531* acres. The County's Voluntary Farmland Protection Ordinance (VFPO) outlines a procedure for the Agricultural Preservation Board to review and approve applications for qualifying farmland, and to make recommendations to the Board of Commissioners concerning the establishment and modification of agricultural districts. Section VII of the VFPO contains the requirements for inclusion in a voluntary agricultural district. To be certified as qualifying farmland, a farm must: a) Be located in the unincorporated area of Orange County; b) Be engaged in Agriculture as that word is defined in NC GS 106-581.1 c) Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) of the United States Department of Agriculture as being a farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is composed of soils that are best suited for providing food, seed, fiber, forage, timber,forestry products, horticultural crops and oil seed crops; d) Be managed in accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and NC Soil and Water Conservation Service defined erosion-control practices that are addressed to said highly-erodible land; and have a current conservation farm plan and/or forestry management plan associated with the current usages and owner; e) Be the subject of a non-binding conservation agreement, as defined in N.C.G.S. §121-35, between the County and the owner that prohibits non-farm use or development of such land for a period of at least ten years, except for the creation of not more than three lots that meet applicable County zoning and subdivision regulations. The Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board reviewed the findings of the staff assessments for the attached applications for the Orange County Voluntary Agricultural District program at its regular meetings in September and November, 2020. All farm applications were