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11 <br />I+ <br />Voluntary Agricultural Districts <br />Annual Report <br />January 1, 2000 <br />Purpose: To provide an update on the activities in the Voluntary Agricultural <br />Districts program during calendar year 1999. The Voluntary Agricultural <br />Districts (VAD) program has been in place since 1992. <br />The Voluntary Farmland Preservation Program Ordinance permits the <br />Agricultural Districts Advisory Board to review and approve applications for <br />qualifying farmland and make recommendations concerning the <br />establishment and modification of agricultural districts. To be certified as <br />qualifying farmland, a farm must: <br />1. Be participating in the farm present use-value taxation program <br />2. Be certified by the Natural Resources Conservation Service as a <br />farm on which at least two-thirds of the land is composed of <br />favorable soils for production or has been in active production. <br />3. Be managed, if highly erodible land exists on the farm, in <br />accordance with the Natural Resources Conservation Service <br />erosion-control practices. <br />To be designated as a Voluntary Agricultural District, the property owner <br />must sign a conservation between Orange County and the owner that <br />prohibits non-farm use or development of such land for a period of at <br />least ten (10) years, except for the creation of not more than three (3) <br />lots that meet applicable Orange County zoning and subdivision <br />regulations. <br />Total Acreage in Program (1/1/99): 704 acres <br />Total Acreage in Program (1/1/00): 1,340 acres <br />New Farms added to Program in 1999: Hurley and Louise Tate, 81 acres <br />Bob Strayhom, 555 acres <br />Current List of Farms in Program: Hurley Tate (81 acres), Bob Strayhom (555 acres), <br />Carl and Elizabeth Walters (188 acres), Robert <br />Nutter (365 acres), Stewart and ]ospehine <br />Barbour (151 acres), <br />Comments: Growth in this program in 1999 saw the highest acreage yet, <br />with 1,336 acres now enrolled. Additional interest has been <br />generated through the use of a new brochure mailing, and other <br />ongoing agriculture-related initiatives such as the Agricultural <br />Summit.