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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB minutes 092116 Attachment 1 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board DRAFT Meeting Summary: Sept. 21st, 2016 Environmental & Agricultural Center—Conference Room 306 Revere Rd., Hillsborough, NC 7:30 p.m. Members Present: Kim Woods (Vice Chair), Vaughn Compton, Ashley Parker, Renee Parker, Howard McAdams, Gordon Neville, Noah Ranells, Jane Saiers, Kathy Shambley, Shelia Thomas-Ambat Members Absent: Nels Anderson, Ken Dawson, Renee McPherson, Amanda Scherle, Richal Vanhook Guests: Maureane Hoffman, Vice Chair, Orange County Animal Services Advisory Board, and Bob Marotto, Director, Orange County Animal Services Staff: Gail Hughes, Resource Conservation Coordinator-DEAPR-Orange Soil and Water Conservation District; Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Coordinator-DEAPR, and Mike Ortosky, Agriculture Economic Developer. 1. Call to order: Vice-chair Woods called the meeting to order at 7:30 p.m. 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: Woods declared that a quorum was present. 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: Staff asked to add an update on the planned breakfast meeting and a quick look at a section of the VFPP ordinance that supports the VAD program 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: September 21st, 2016 (Attachment 1): Parker moved to accept the minutes/summary; seconded by Neville; motion carried. 5. Items for Decision: a) New VAD/EVAD Applications (Attachment 2): Hughes presented the application for the Bonham family farm. This farm meets the requirements/criteria for VAD/EVAD enrollment.  Paul and Patricia Bonham Farm: VAD: 116.85 acres in the Schley/Eno District: This consists of two parcels off Edmund Latta Rd. The owners rent the farm to Patrick Purcell, the operator of the Milton Latta dairy farm. Mrs. Bonham is part of the Latta family. The property adjoins the dairy farm. It includes woodland, pasture and hayland. Ranells moved to approve the farm for VAD, seconded by McAdams, motion carried. This farm will add an additional 116.85 acres to the program, giving a total of 11,048 acres. Hughes evaluates VAD applications to determine soil types, with the goal of protecting soils ranked as either important or prime. Ranells described the new USDA NRCS “websoil” 2 survey web site; he can do a demo at the next meeting. Hughes noted that the current soil survey booklet dates to 1972. She can bring it to the next meeting. Discussion followed about various issues relating to the accurate delineation of soil types, blue line streams and ponds for irrigation. Old USGS topo survey maps show these streams clearly. 6. Items for Discussion: a) APB Annual Report and Work Plan: review of last year’s report and ideas for next report due in December (Attachment 3): Staff referred members to the 2015 report; we need to update this for 2016 by December. This is a chance to get our issues and accomplishments in front of the BOCC. Discussion followed. Some years ago this board helped convene a joint meeting of all county boards and committees that deal with ag; it may be time again. Staff will look into the possibility of such a meeting next year. One issue is the tax treatment for farm owners who make substantial improvements, and then get hit with a major property tax increase. Developers and businesses get breaks here but not farmers. Ranells thinks some states have addressed this. Members should email their edits and suggestions to staff. b) Update on planning for VAD Breakfast: Hughes handed out a draft outline of the planned breakfast. Possible locations are Cedar Grove School, Schley Grange or the Mapleview Farm Ag Center. Discussion followed about possible dates. She is thinking basic, coffee, biscuits, Danish etc. All VAD members will be invited. The best dates might be Nov. 30 or Dec. 1. Hughes will check on location availability and propose a final date. Volunteers are welcome. Parker and Neville offered to help. c) Updates from Ag Economic Development: Ortosky provided an overview of the current status of Ag Economic Development grant program. In their first year there were 25 recipients receiving grants totaling just under $194,000. They are funded at $60,000 per year. They are hoping to get even more applications so they have good projects to select from. PFAP currently has about 35 clients; it is breaking even at this point. They now can offer leased dry storage space at the newly renovated Cedar Grove School. At the Breeze Farm, the County is working with NC State to get a long-term lease in place by next year. The County is working on a “farm and food” app for farms and restaurants, through the Visitor’s Bureau. The County and PFAP got an ADFP grant of $32,500 to create a program to provide PFAP clients with operating cash that can be paid back once crops are harvested and sold. Some details have to be resolved. Members thanked Ortosky for his efforts. d) Planning for 2017 Ag Summit: The first planning meeting is this coming Monday. We will welcome any suggestions about topics for sessions and workshops. e) Update/report back from the Food Council: Ortosky reported that they had their 4th meeting of the Council and are at a point where they are finaliz ing collaborative and operating agreements and are forming work groups. He is trying to keep production as a major topic. There is a good opportunity for a joint meeting with the APB at some point. 3 f) Animal Services Advisory Board presentation regarding stray cats (Attachment 4): Guests Maureane Hoffman and Bob Marotto provided an overview of the local cat overpopulation challenge and presented the concept of creating a “working cats” program to place stray cats at farms. This is to share ideas and get feedback from the APB. The conept is that the cats help with rodent control while the famer provid es a safe home and helps deal with the surplus of free-roaming cats. Healthy spayed or neutered, vaccinated cats would be placed with willing farm owners. Discussion followed. Farmers often already have one or more cats. Incentives will be key, such as providing free vaccinations, along with free spaying/neutering , and maybe waive the license fee for working cats. Ranells raised the question of charging license fees for working dogs on farms. Their numbers at the shelter double or triple each spring due to cat births. Presently, non-profit rescue groups handle all the critical cat overpopulation issues by helping to trap these cats and getting them spayed/neutered, then releasing them again. Coyotes have become a factor as predators of domestic and wild cats. Another issue is how to get the word out, using the different organizations like Cooperative Extension, Soil and Water etc., and notices at feed stores. Basically, you have to make it very attractive, ie, no cost, to entice farmers to buy into this. They understand that spaying/neutering will have to be a part of the equation, along with addressing shots and updating vaccines like rabies and feline leukemia. It is really hard to catch these feral cats for vaccines. It is critical to keep them up to date on rabies vaccines. Even getting them vaccinated some of the time is better than none. Animal Services will consider the board’s feedback and draft up a rough descri ption of a proposed program to share to get review comments. APB members are invited to come before the Animal Services board any time to discuss working dog license fees and any other issues or concerns. Woods thanked Hoffman and Marotto for their presentation. g) Membership update: Staff did not have any new items to discuss tonight. 7. Informational Items/Future Agenda Items: a) Mailbox VAD signs: Hughes showed a photo of a typical mailbox sign for another VAD program. These are about the size of a license plate. She proposes that we have these made for all of the participating farmers and hand them out at the breakfast event. b) Annual Report to Dept. of Agriculture: Hughes will be preparing and submitting our required annual report for the Ag Dept. c) New Ag Extension Agent: Mark Bumgarner was recently hired as the new agent, for livestock and crops. He is retired from the Army. We will invite him to an upcoming meeting. 8. Adjournment: Parker moved to adjourn; seconded by Ranells. Meeting adjourned at 8:50.