Agenda 05-24-22; 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

5 1 looking out for the environment but rather asking that they remain aware that it is county 2 regulations that lead to larger lot sizes. He said that if someone purchases a ten-acre parcel 3 then they are not required to adhere to a lot of those regulations and have a way around it. He 4 said the desire for high end homes also adds to the larger parcels. He said that people want to 5 put large homes on large tracts of land. He said the median income in Orange County allows for 6 people to afford to build large homes and buy those large tracts. He said he would welcome a 7 process to mitigate that. He said he does not see that happening because the county would 8 have to extend water and sewer to encourage smaller lots. He said another factor is the profit 9 potential with farming vs. development. He said from a personal experience, he bought a 26- 10 acre tract and divided it into five separate parcels. He said that in one and a half years, he made 11 more than he had in 19 years farming it. He said that dividing a farm up can result in a profit that 12 is more than decades of farming. He said that the southern portion of the county used to be 13 covered in dairy farms with the northern part tobacco farmed. He said those are all going away. 14 He said that his wife grew up on a dairy farm in the county and he grew up on a tobacco farm 15 and he hates to see the change but that is what is happening, and he does not see it coming 16 back. 17 Chair Price asked Portia McKnight how large her dairy farm is. 18 Portia McKnight said her dairy farm is fifty acres and they have been farming for 20 19 years. She said that is not a very large farm and that they only have 30 cows. She said policies 20 can be written to shift things if they want to. She said the Board is able to do something. 21 Chair Price said they should work with the FFA to get young people interested in 22 farming. 23 Commissioner Greene said the policy decision to not extend water and sewer 24 throughout the county was made over 30 years ago. She said that decision was to protect 25 watersheds and prohibit sprawl. She said she thought there might be a middle ground or an 26 alternative between the status quo large lots - that are necessary to have enough space to perk 27 for a septic tank. She said she would like to better understand the alternatives that are being 28 discussed before breaking the rural buffer. She said one option could be cluster lots with homes 29 built close together and supplied with community septic. She said that once they break the rural 30 buffer, no one will be happy. 31 Commissioner Fowler asked if continuing the Voluntary Agricultural program would help 32 preserve land. 33 Peter Sandbeck said it is only one piece of the puzzle and it is voluntary for only 10 34 years. He said people can walk out at any time. He said the current number of farms is only a 35 small percentage of all the farmland in the county. He said the average age of farmers is 36 around 60 years old. He said they are thinking about the future and what their children might 37 need to with the property to provide for their families. He said they would like to work with all 38 the agencies and then come back at a work session to discuss ideas with the Board. 39 Commissioner Richards said she looked forward to that. 40 Chair Price said she hears about people who move into a new development next to a 41 farm who complain about the smell and the noise. She feels that should be expected. She said 42 they need to work on these issues to preserve farmland. She said that there is work to be done 43 on this. 44 Kim Piracci and Christian Hirni presented for the Commission for the Environment. 45 Kim Piracci said the commission will be working on several projects that align with 46 BOCC goals in the next year. She said they will review applications for the climate grants, 47 review the tree policy for county-owned lands, work with staff to develop a Greene Tract 48 Headwaters preserve, form a joint subcommittee with the Parks and Recreation Council, and 49 support the county's work in water quality issues in the Falls Lake Watershed with the Upper 50 Neuse River Basin Association using the interim alternative implementation approach. She said 51 they would like to review and comment on county rezoning requests. She said they are going to