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 />Docusign Envelope ID: F68C289B-897D-4E9C-8B77-C5477012992E