HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB minutes 012115ORANGE COUNTY
AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION BOARD
MEETING SUMMARY -- APPROVED
January 21st, 2015
Environment & Agricultural Center – Conference Room
306 Revere Road, Hillsborough, NC
7:30 p.m.
MEMBERS PRESENT: Vaughn Compton, Howard McAdams (Chair), Renee McPherson,
Ashley Parker, Noah Ranells, Joe Thompson, Kim Woods (Vice-Chair)
MEMBERS ABSENT/EXCUSED: Gordon Neville
GUESTS: Bonnie Hammersley, County Manager
Mike Ortosky, Agriculture Economic Development Coordinator
STAFF: David Stancil, Director, DEAPR; Gail Hughes, Soil Conservationist, DEAPR –
Orange Soil & Water Conservation District; Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources
Coordinator, DEAPR
1. Call to Order: Chair McAdams called the meeting to order at 7:31 PM.
2. Vice-Chair Comments: None
3. Consideration of Additions to Agenda: Stancil wished to make a few comments at the
end of the meeting.
4. Meeting Summary / Minutes – Oct. 15th, 2014 (Attachment 1): Parker moved to
accept the minutes/summary; seconded by Thompson; motion carried.
5. Introduction of Guests and Comments: Stancil introduced Bonnie Hammersley, new
Orange County Manager. Members introduced themselves. Ms. Hammersley gave an
overview of her background. She grew up on a dairy farm where her brother still lives
after having to sell his herd. She understands the challenges that farmers face. Members
discussed the county’s high tax rate compared to neighboring counties. This acts as a
disincentive for young farmers seeking to make physical/structural improvements to their
property, or for farmers buying equipment.
Stancil introduced Mike Ortosky, the County’s new Ag Economic Development
Coordinator. Mr. Ortosky reviewed his background in soil science and land planning. He
hopes to focus on local foods and building markets for local growers, including food hubs
and other ways to get more local food on the market and in institutions, sort of 10% and
beyond. He is working on an Ag Economic Development Plan for the County and will
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share more of that. He wants to speak to all types of farmers to get a sense of their issues.
Hughes suggested that he should talk to Ag Board members as they represent a diverse
cross-section of the farm community. Ortosky noted that recent studies show that the
majority of farmers do not make a living farming but have other sources of income. Right
now a young person who starts out farming will not be able to count on making a decent
living. Compton noted that the average farmer today is 58 years old. Ortosky stated that
tobacco is bigger now than it was a hundred years ago but the number of farmers is vastly
smaller. Compton remarked on the cyclical nature of the markets right now: organic
tobacco is doing well. Chicken is doing OK today but was tough two years ago.
Discussion followed about the status of the proposed Ag Economic Development grant
program. Members expressed their interest in being involved in developing the guidelines
and application. Hammersley noted that the Economic Development Advisory Board has
drafted guidelines for the BOCC’s Jan 27th work session. Ranells noted that this board
has great depth but members feel they have been left out of this process. There was some
urgency to get the Ag Grant program moving quickly as funds are available now and
need to get out into the economy. Hammersley noted that they will do their best to reach
out and seek the board’s input. They value the board’s input and will share a draft with
the members. Members agreed that the Ag Board needs strong representation in the
application review process. Stancil asked members to let us know if they see any issues.
6. Items for Decision:
(a): New VAD and EVAD applications: (Attachment 2): Hughes introduced one new
application for an Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural District (EVAD).
This has been reviewed by staff and meets all the criteria and requirements for APB
consideration for the EVAD program. Hughes reviewed the application then opened the
floor for discussion and approval. Members discussed the biodynamic process.
Robert and Cheri Bowers: 51.24 acres for EVAD: (Cedar Grove District: Art Road
north of Hurdle Mills Road) They grow organic and biodynamic vegetables, fruits,
berries and honey, and sell at the Carrboro farmer’s market. Ranells moved to approve
the Bowers EVAD; seconded by McPherson; motion carried.
Hughes is also processing an address change/update for the McPherson VAD to add
Renee’s name to the application. There are now 7,145 acres in our VAD/EVAD program.
7. Items for Discussion
a. Looking ahead: meeting calendar for 2015: Staff handed out a new draft
calendar for 2015. Discussion followed. Members agreed to meet every other
month as shown in the draft calendar rather than skip July.
b. Election of Officers to be held at the March meeting: Staff passed out copies of
the current rosters. Board policy calls for the annual election of members to be
held every March. The Clerk’s office is phasing out lifetime memberships for any
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board, so our old policy of having district members for life will be phased out.
Compton is the first new district member to have a term expiration date after his
name. New district members can serve two terms of three years each.
c. Final Draft of revisions to Orange County VFPP to remove “present use”
requirement: Hughes submitted our revised draft to Dewitt Hardee at the
Department of Agriculture. His staff asked us to add language to our draft
revision (Section 48-7, item 4) to include the words “and NC Soil and Water
Conservation” after “Natural Resources Conservation Service.” Hughes
explained that since the NRCS is federal, and Soil and Water is state, there are
some instances where the two programs have slight differences. Members agreed
and asked staff to add this and send the draft to the County Attorney for adoption.
d. Membership: McAdams noted that at the December meeting of the advisory
boards the BOCC members said they will try to work from our list of prospective
applicants but may go ahead to fill long-standing vacancies. We should actively
seek new members. At-large members do not need to be landowners or
VAD/EVAD participants. Members offered names for prospective board
members. Other ideas included: managers of some of the local farmer’s markets;
the PFAP manager, the farmer foodshare folks, or even restaurant owners.
8. Informational Items / Future Agenda Items
a. Ag Summit on February 16th: Mike Ortosky urged members to attend the
upcoming Ag Summit, to be held on Feb. 16th at the Whitted Center.
b. Animal Services Ordinance Revisions: Bob Marotto reported that the Animal
Services Board is now working with the towns on the final stages of revising their
proposed new ordinance. Mr. Marotto promised share the final version.
c. Final copy of the Ag Board’s Annual Work Plan and Report: The BOCC will be
inviting the various board chairs to meet with them to be recognized for their
work and share information. Ag Board leaders will be invited to participate.
d. Local governments continue to discuss issues related to AG Support Enterprises:
This attachment was included for informational purposes. Both Chapel Hill and
Carrboro are debating Ag Support Enterprises within the rural buffer.
9. Time for information sharing: Stancil noted the good activity now underway on the
10% campaign. DEAPR is planning to open Blackwood Farm as a new park this spring,
initially on weekends. The county’s space study committee is bringing in a space planner
to look at our space utilization. One idea is to build a new building adjacent to this one,
then tear down this building. Ortosky noted that there may be new ways to look at the
rural buffer. While the stated intent of the buffer is to limit sprawl/protect land, we are
not achieving that goal. Other communities are working with developers to cluster higher
densities of housing while permanently preserving larger open tracts of rural land.
10. Adjournment: Woods moved to adjourn the meeting; seconded by Parker; motion
carried. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.
Next Meeting – March 18th, 2015