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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB Meeting Summary 09202023 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board Approved Meeting Summary: September 20t", 2023 ***Bonnie Davis Center*** 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Compton, Hooten, McAdams, McKnight, Saiers, Wagger, Woods Members Absent: Hughes, McPherson, Myers, Sykes, Taylor Guests: Cy Stober, Director, Orange County Planning and Inspections Dept.; Pat Mallet, Deputy Director, Orange County Development Services; Ashley Moncado, Planner, Orange County Planning Dept. Staff: David Stancil, Director, Orange County DEAPR; Mike Ortosky, Community and Rural Development Agent, Orange County Extension Service; Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resource Coordinator, Orange County DEAPR 1. Call to order: Chair McKnight called the meeting to order at 6:31 p.m. and noted that this would be her final meeting as her second term expires at the end of September. 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: Given the presence of several guests, McKnight asked everyone to introduce themselves. 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: McKnight noted that it would be appropriate to have the group select a new chair in light of her departure. 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: Staff pointed out two additional corrections that were needed. McAdams moved to approve the minutes for the March 171" meeting, as corrected; seconded by Saiers; motion carried. S. Items for Decision: None 6. Discussion Items: a) APB Review of an application for conditional rezoning from RB, Rural Buffer zoning district to ASE-CD, Agricultural Support Enterprises Conditional District for agricultural services uses: Planning department staff member Mallet provided a PowerPoint presentation about the conditional rezoning project, which involves a proposal to establish a processing facility to deal with wood waste generated by a commercial tree care company, Treeist, that has a large business in this area. The 10-acre lot is adjacent to the old landfill site near Eubanks and Millhouse roads, in the Rural Buffer zoning area. Planning staff provided some background on the ASE program, explaining that this process requires that such projects be presented to the APB to obtain input and feedback from the 2 group. The APB comments are advisory in nature. This is the first time that Planning has encountered a major project that will utilize the ASE process. After this was created in 2014, the state adjusted the rules for bona fide farms, and in doing so, has largely eliminated the need for applicants to use the ASE process. The applicant operates a commercial tree care operation in the Chapel Hill-Carrboro area. Adjacent property owners are Orange County and Duke Forest. This land was formerly part of the Eugene and Julia Blackwood farm. This parcel already has a 180' monopole cell tower at one corner. The site plans for the project depicted the location of the access road, parking areas and related aspects of the development. Any APB comments or observations will be noted and conveyed to the Planning Board. Ms. Moncado is the lead planner on this project and will be able to answer any subsequent questions. Discussion followed to address APB questions. There will be about 60 employees and 15 employee crew trucks; the employees will drive into the facility and leave at the end of the day. The crew trucks will exit and return, creating on the order of 100 trips per day. The property will be fully fenced. The by-product of wood chips might be another aspect of an ag-oriented use if mulch is created. This operation is considered an allowable use under the ASE, as a forestry-related operation and is considered to be consistent with the overall character of the surrounding area. The APB can consider this information and provide comments/questions back to staff. We have 30 days to consider this proposal and provide written comments back to Planning. b) VAD Breakfast: proposal for the 2023: staff shared an overview of the proposed event, noting that there are two options for the date: either November 14 or 30. Members preferred the 14th. The Lashley's have agreed to cater again. It will be held at the Ruritan Club in Cedar Grove. Members endorsed the catering and location choices. The cost last year was about $1,400. Discussion followed about topics. It might be helpful if there could be a presentation about the progress on updating the county's land use plan. c) VAD report/update: Perrin's written report noted that there are a couple of VAD farms now going through the application process and that she is working on conservation plans. These might be ready for November or January. She's also working on the annual VAD report for the state. d) Farmland Preservation Subcommittee: Saiers provided an update and thanked members for completing the draft of the farmer/landowner survey to help us test it and for providing their feedback. In August, this was shared with the County Manager to get a green light to send it out to our full emailing list. Stancil reported that it should be OK to send it out now, with Ortosky handling the actual emailing process. There is a newly-formed Orange County Rural/Urban Coalition, started by our County Commissioner Sally Green and Carrboro Mayor Damon Seils—both acting as concerned citizens and not in their official capacities. This is a new group being formed to encourage smart development within the towns and cities. APB member Michael Hughes is current serving as our liaison with this group. Reach out to him if you have questions or would like to participate in some way. Our GIS database work is moving forward now that Brian Carson has cross-linked the USDA cropland data 3 layer with our county GIS parcel layers, allowing us to really start work on the ground truthing questions about the accuracy of the data. We're discussing the various approaches to prioritize land for protection. The Lands Legacy program has tackled this issue and developed its own criteria. Discussion followed. Soil quality will be an important factor that has to be considered as a high priority for protection. Ortosky noted that this is a complex subject. What is it exactly that we're trying to preserve?The whole cultural landscape of farming and the rural landscape, or the most important resource, which is the prime farmland? For example, at Breeze Farm, maybe 30% of the 270 acres is considered prime farmland. The rest is either lower quality soil or steeper slopes. So just considering prime farmland won't necessarily protect the other aspects, like the cultural landscape or the important natural resources. Another way to approach this would be to evaluate the soil types and focus on the top-quality types wherever they appear. This type of approach has been used successfully on a large scale through the wetland evaluation and protection programs. Saiers will bring this back to the group to get your thoughts. e) Membership: Staff hasn't had luck yet finding a volunteer for the Schley/Eno district position. Perrin generated an updated email listing for the VAD farm owners in this district so staff will reach out to all of those landowners. Thanks to help from the County Clerk's office, Saiers was reappointed to her district position and can serve until 6/30/25. With McKnight rotating off, there will be a second district position for the White Cross district. We also have two vacant at-large positions with the recent resignation of Jim Fickle. The topic of a new chair was discussed. Hooten moved to appoint McAdams as the interim chair until our regular elections in March, seconded by Saiers; motion passed. McAdams offered to have the Farm Bureau sponsor the upcoming breakfast to free up funding for the of purchase additional VAD signs. 7. Informational Items/Future Agenda Items: a. Extension and Ag Economic Development Activities:The Ag grant program has increased by $50k more per year, up to $150 k. As of June 30 they are up to 108 grant awards. They're working on producing videos of some of the grant recipients to document their stories about farming. At Breeze Farm, they're up to four incubator farms, which is their capacity. The county is increasing its share for Breeze up to $50k, up from 10k. They have some new dry storage and have materials in place for a new steel truss pole barn. They're going to have to replace their ventilator fan in the greenhouse, at a cost of$3,000. They have a new advisory team with some former Breeze farmers on it that just met. 8. Time for Information Sharing: Hooten reported that the current effort to preserve the Gibson farm that was for sale in the Oaks Community has hit pause. It's likely that the appraised valuation was not acceptable to the seller. It's not completely closed but at the moment, but there isn't any activity. At least it's not on the market as of now. 9. Adjournment: Hooten moved to adjourn, seconded by Woods. Meeting adjourned at 7:55 pm.