Orange County NC Website
Browse       Search
1 <br /> ORANGE COUNTY <br /> BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br /> ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br /> Meeting Date: June 3, 2025 <br /> Action Agenda <br /> Item No. 8-t <br /> SUBJECT: Resolution of Approval — Conservation Easement on Property owned by Jane <br /> Saiers and Darin Knapp (RambleRill Farms) <br /> DEPARTMENT: Environment, Agriculture, Parks <br /> and Recreation (DEAPR) <br /> ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: <br /> 1. Resolution of Approval David Stancil, 245-2510 <br /> 2. Location Map Christian Hirni, 245-2514 <br /> 3. Site Map <br /> 4. Draft Conservation Easement <br /> PURPOSE: To adopt a resolution approving the purchase of and acceptance by Orange County <br /> of a conservation easement on property owned by Jane Saiers and Darin Knapp (RambleRill <br /> Farms). <br /> BACKGROUND: The acquisition of conservation easements to protect highly important natural <br /> and cultural resource lands in Orange County is a longstanding goal of the Board of <br /> Commissioners and is a priority of the Lands Legacy program. Since 2001, the County has <br /> partnered with landowners and other entities to protect 3,004 acres of significant natural areas <br /> and prime farmland with permanent conservation easements, leveraging well over $3 million in <br /> outside funding and grants toward these easements. <br /> Over the past several years, DEAPR has worked with Jane Saiers and Darin Knapp, the owners <br /> and managers of RambleRill Farms, an organic farm operation and joint farmers market endeavor <br /> located on Arthur Minnis Road in the Chapel Hill Township. <br /> The farm property has almost 1,700 linear feet of stream along two (2) unnamed tributaries that <br /> drain directly into upper New Hope Creek, as well as 350 feet of direct New Hope Creek stream <br /> frontage. New Hope Creek is part of the Jordan Lake Watershed, which is a significant portion of <br /> the water supplies for the cities of Durham and Raleigh, among others. The property also directly <br /> abuts the "Wilson Tract" held in easement by the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC), which <br /> comprises nearly 200 acres. Adding this easement to the adjacent TLC easement would enhance <br /> protection of this vital conservation corridor and add 28 contiguous acres of protected land to the <br /> New Hope Creek Corridor. <br /> The landowners intend to grant a permanent conservation easement that will restrict future <br /> development to protect prime farm soils, open space and streams. All other non-agricultural and <br /> development rights will be extinguished through the conservation easement. <br />