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z <br /> conservation plan has been prepared but is awaiting signature by the owner, so this <br /> is presented for approval contingent on being signed. <br /> • Marvin and Diane Pope: 46.83 acres (VAD), Cedar Grove District, two parcels in <br /> tobacco, grain and managed forest land. The forest management plan has been <br /> submitted. The conservation plan has been completed and is awaiting signatures by <br /> the owners, so this is presented for approval contingent on being signed. <br /> Hughes moved to approve these two applications, contingent upon the signatures being <br /> obtained for both as required, seconded by Compton; motion carried. The following two <br /> applications are not completed but are presented for information and discussion purposes: <br /> • Brian Woods: submitted an application to enroll one parcel of 19.08 acres for VAD in <br /> the Caldwell District, in vegetable and fruit production. They just cleared this land <br /> and now have goats, a cow, chickens and rabbits. There are two issues: there is very <br /> little vegetation reestablished on the land as required to meet requirements for a <br /> conservation plan. They have not yet met the qualifications for being a bona fide <br /> farm as required to enroll in the VAD, so Perrin will work with them to determine <br /> how they might qualify. <br /> • McKenzie and Victoria Clayton: submitted an application to enroll one parcel of <br /> 41.15 acres for VAD in Cedar Grove, with land in hay and forestry. Perrin will make a <br /> site visit to determine eligibility. <br /> A new batch of VAD signs has been delivered and will be installed in June. As a sidebar, there <br /> have been two instances of these signs being reported missing, so Perrin will investigate to see <br /> if she can determine the cause, whether they are stolen or hit by the DOT mowers. <br /> 6. Discussion Items: <br /> a) Farmland Preservation Subcommittee: <br /> Saiers provided an update. Since the last meeting, we've been working with land conversion <br /> data, with a focus on grass land and pasture which are harder to evaluate. We are making <br /> progress with our GIS team on getting more granular on this. Also, we have been <br /> investigating how to conduct our own farm owners survey and how to reach the most <br /> landowners. Chatham County recently sent out three surveys for updating their farmland <br /> preservation plans—these look pretty solid and provide a good model for us to follow for <br /> our own. So we are making progress and will share a draft survey with the membership to <br /> get your input before we send that out. Discussion followed. Ortosky noted that Extension <br /> is looking into doing an ongoing farmer survey every two years. Also, we might benefit from <br /> consulting with Chatham to see how they think theirs worked. Perrin will put Jane in touch <br /> with the Chatham staffer working on this effort. <br /> b) Membership: We have one district position in the Schley/Eno district that has been hard to <br /> fill. Perrin provided an updated email listing for the VAD farmers in this district so staff will <br /> work on reaching out to all these owners to see if there is interest. Also, Saiers district <br /> position is set to expire on June 30 but we don't want her to leave yet. Staff will work with <br />