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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB minutes 111710November 17, 2010 Minutes 1 AGRICULTURAL PRESERVATION BOARD - MINUTES November 17, 2010 MEMBERS PRESENT: Elizabeth Walters, Spence Dickinson, Allan Green, James and Patricia Wynn, Patrick McGarry and Joe Thompson. MEMBERS ABSENT/EXCUSED: Roland Walters, Howard McAdams and Louise Tate. GUESTS: Bernadette Pelissier, Board of County Commissioners David Heeks and Andrew Branan STAFF: Rich Shaw and Tina Moon, Natural and Cultural Division Department of Environment, Agriculture, Parks and Recreation Noah Ranells, Economic Development ITEM #1: CALL TO ORDER Chair Emeritus Elizabeth Walters called the meeting to order at 7:07 p.m., as both chair and vice chair were absent. ITEM #2: CHAIR COMMENTS (none) ITEM #3: CONSIDERATION OF ADDITIONS TO AGENDA (none) ITEM #4: APPROVAL OF MINUTES October 20, 2010 The minutes were approved by unanimous vote. ITEM #5: ITEMS FOR DECISION None. ITEM #6: ITEMS FOR DISCUSSION a. Interest and Opportunities to Lease Farms Moon offered a brief introduction of the topic, the speakers (David Heeks and Rich Shaw) and the guests (Andrew Branan and Noah Ranells). The APB has often discussed the importance of keeping agricultural lands in production. The County’s Lands Legacy Program has become a successful land conservation program that keeps agricultural land out of development. Conservation easements are typically designed to take a right away, (such as the right to develop), not to require a land use or activity to occur, (such as keeping the land under cultivation). APB members, particularly Dickinson, have often asked if there is way to require conservation lands to remain in operation. Is there a way to encourage more property owners to lease their some/all of the their agricultural lands to another farmer to tend? The second part of the equation is finding the farmer who wants to farm but doesn’t have any or enough land. Andrew Branan, and Noah Ranells have both participated in efforts to bring these two groups together--landowners who for whatever reason do not want to farm themselves and farmers who want to farm but do not own or have access to land—through land link programs and model lease documents--but with mixed success. 1. David Heeks David Heeks participated in a panel discussion on this topic at the Triangle Land Conservancy’s Conservation Summit. Staff thought that Heeks’ presentation offered a new perspective on the issue and invited him to the APB’s November meeting to share his thoughts with the board. Heeks explained his interest in pursuing a lifetime lease (99 years) for farmland. He attended the PLANT program at the Breeze Farm to gain training, but realized that he needed a site to continue farming once the program was over. He developed a prospectus describing his interests and experience and distributed it to local farmers. Heeks eventually pursued a partnership with the Triangle Land Conservancy to lease some of its conservation land. Heeks offered some points that he feels would help this area provide better opportunities for farmers (up and coming & existing) as well as improve local food options for consumers. November 17, 2010 Minutes 2 1) Pursue farm efforts on a regional level rather than an individual county level, particularly with regard to farm infrastructure such as processing facilities and farmers markets. 2) Develop a national advertisement campaign to attract farmers to the area. 3) Consider creating “working easements” a slight modification of a traditional agricultural conservation easement, which limits development, to one that limits development and requires active farming. 4) Consider setting up a system where the County leases land from a landowner and brokers the land to farmers—check with the Durham Soil and Water Conservation District as a potential model. 5) Consider setting up leases for different period of time, e.g. 20 years, 99 years. Ranells and Branan offered feedback on Heeks remarks based on their experience over the last several years trying to accomplish some of these efforts and noted improvement, albeit slow. Branan noted that mapping existing farm infrastructure at the regional level would be a very useful product to promote much of what Heeks suggested. For example, the different educational programs, the farmers markets, the processing facilities could be located on a map of the triangle-plus region. It would be much easier to determine what types of facilities are still needed and where they could be located to serve the greatest number of users. Branan also noted how important it is to get conventional farmers—farmers with large land holdings--to the table to begin to think about estate planning and to think strategically about what they want to happen with their land in the future. Branan noted Wake County’s success holding a landowner summit, a program similar to our agricultural summit, but with a focus on conventional farmers. 2. Rich Shaw Rich Shaw explained his role in managing the County’s Lands Legacy Program. He mentioned that the County held conservation easements on privately owned lands; the County also owned some properties, which were purchased for park use. Some of these parks will eventually become developed with active recreation facilities, ball fields and the like. Others will remain in a natural state with trails for low-impact recreation. Some of the future parkland was in agriculture prior to the County’s purchase, and in those cases, for the most part, the County has developed an arrangement with the farmer to continue to tend the land--raise hay or beef cattle—as they have in the past. There has been some discussion of developing a community garden program at the historic Blackwood Farm on New Hope Church Road; the master plan for that park has been shared with the Board of County Commissioners but has not yet been approved. Dickinson asked if lease templates were available for distribution and use. He also discussed the benefits of apprentice programs and suggested partnering potential farmers with experience farmers early on—to help develop a relationship before the up and coming farmer is ready to purchase land of his own. Heeks and Ranells concurred that there is really a need for accessible land for farmers in the intermediate stage of their agricultural careers. After finishing the Breeze Farm or similar programs for the first level of education, new farmers need a place where they can lease a larger plot of land for say five years to gain more experience, then the final level would be finding land to cultivate for the long term. Ownership is one option, but long-term leases may offer a better option for some: less up front costs to the farmer and the opportunity to retain ownership for the landowner. b. Updates & Information Sharing 1. Conservation Summit Moon referenced the agenda from the recently held Conservation Summit sponsored by the Triangle Land Conservancy (TLC). TLC holds this event annually, but this year’s topic The Conservation Benefit of Local Food and Farms: Water, Wildlife and Connecting People with Nature seemed particularly timely with some of the APB’s recent discussions. 2. Ag Summit 2011—March 21, 2010 Moon provided a brief summary of the discussion at the second meeting of the Agricultural Summit Planning Committee. Moon invited Branan and Ranells, who were also at the meeting to supplement her summary. Staff will continue to update the APB as the planning process continues. 3. Unified Development Ordinance November 17, 2010 Minutes 3 Work on the Unified Development Ordinance continues, with public outreach meetings leading the formal public hearing. Staff encouraged APB members to follow the Planning Department’s website for more timely updates and to participate as their schedule permits. ITEM# 7: INFORMATIONAL ITEMS/FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS a. Handouts at the meeting ITEM #8: ADJOURNMENT Dr. Wynn made a motion to adjourn the meeting; Thompson seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 9:10 p.m. Next meeting scheduled for December 15, 2010, in the small Conference Room in the Environment and Agriculture Center.