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APPROVED 5/4/2004 MINUTES <br />ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />WORK SESSION <br />February 23, 2004 <br />7:30 p.m. <br />The Orange County Board of Commissioners met far a Work Session on Monday, <br />February 23, 2004 at 7:30 p.m. in the F. Gordon Battle Courtroom in Hillsborough, North <br />Carolina. <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS PRESENT: Chair Barry Jacobs and Commissioners <br />Margaret W. Brawn, Moses Carey, Jr., Alice Gordan, and Stephen Halkiotis <br />COUNTY COMMISSIONERS ABSENT: <br />COUNTY ATTORNEYS PRESENT: Geoffrey Gledhill and S. Sean Borhanian <br />COUNTY STAFF PRESENT: County Manager John M. Link, Jr., Assistant <br />Manager Gwen Harvey, and Deputy Clerk to the Board David Hunt (All other staff <br />members will be identified appropriately below) <br />NOTE: ALL DOCUMENTS REFERRED TO IN THESE MINUTES ARE IN THE <br />PERMANENT AGENDA FILE IN THE CLERK'S OFFICE. <br />1. Agricultural Business OptionslRural Enterprises <br />Chair Jacobs called the meeting to order at 7:38 p.m. <br />Planning Director Craig Benedict said that in 1999, a rezoning came forward for <br />agricultural service in the northern part of the County. Agricultural services may be a <br />new industry for the farm community and Planning staff looked at comprehensive <br />planning locations. Staff also looked at Reba and Roses and found that there are new <br />industries that tie in farm-type operations by bringing products to central locations. <br />Since then, they have engaged the agricultural community with a task force (Economic <br />Development, Planning, Soil and Water, Ag Preservation Board, and others} to try to <br />categorize the different uses. A brief presentation of this was also brought forward at <br />the Agricultural Summit today. <br />Planner II Tina Moon said that in May 2002, Planning staff presented a proposal to <br />provide more agricultural business options for local farmers. She made reference to <br />attachment 1. She read from the attachment - "to focus on uses that offered farmers <br />supplemental revenue from agricultural products, businesses that are logical extensions <br />to farm uses, and to allow more farm-related services in rural areas." The proposal also <br />included provisions to link the permitting process to the intensity, size, and scale of the <br />use. Since the information session, the interdepartmental work group has continued to <br />work on the project and get input from local farmers. The work group has assembled a <br />more detailed list of agriculturally based uses along with recommended permitting <br />processes. This is attachment 2. The group also came up with definitions to clarify the <br />