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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB Meeting Summary 03202024 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board Approved Meeting Summary: March 20t", 2024 ***Bonnie Davis Center*** 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Compton, Hooten, Hughes, McAdams, Myers, Saiers, Sykes, Wagger, Woods Members Absent: McPherson, Taylor Guests: Dale Morgan Staff: Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resource Coordinator; Mike Ortosky, Community and Rural Development Agent 1. Call to order: Acting Chair McAdams called the meeting to order at 6:33 p.m. 2. Chair Comments/Introduction of guests: Michael Hughes introduced his wife, Dale Morgan. 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: None 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: Woods moved to approve the minutes for the January 171n meeting, seconded by Compton; motion carried. 5. Items for Decision: a) Election of Chair and vice chair: Acting chair McAdams opened by asking for nominations from the floor for chair. Saiers nominated Hughes to be chair. Brief discussion followed. Nominations for chair were closed. Woods does not wish to serve another term, so nominations were opened for vice chair. Hughes nominated Jeff Sykes as vice chair. After discussion, Woods moved to close nominations, seconded by Compton. Motion carried. The new APB officers for 2024-2025 are: Hughes as chair; Sykes as vice-chair. 6. Discussion Items: a) Review and update of existing VAD brochure: Staff handed out the present trifold VAD brochure, which is an updated version of a new brochure from 2016. Staff asked members to try to think like an outsider and read through this. How well does this convey essential information about the VAD program? We don't want it to overwhelm readers. Discussion followed. Wagger said his first impression was that it had too much information. Perhaps it could be a two-sided card to hand out, that provides the essential information, and can also be mailed out. It could have a QR code on the card to link to more information. If the goal is to get someone's attention, then keep it simple and offer an easy way for viewers to learn more. Staff asked for a couple of volunteers to help vet revisions and reformatting. Hooten 2 and Wagger volunteered. Incorporating the logo used on our existing signs might help folks better connect with what the program does county-wide. Staff will follow up. b) Brief review of the county's Land Use Plan 2050 process and APB input: Staff asked for a show of hands of who attended one of the public information meetings for this process. Only a few had. Hughes noted that as of now, they obtained only 160 responses, which is not a statistically significant number given our size and population. The APB will be asked for more input as this moves forward. Members viewed the PowerPoint program developed by the county's consultants, which showed a wide range of demographic and statistical information like: projections for growth and development; maps showing farm sizes; slopes; occupancy permits; number of farms, etc. Hughes noted that the VAD farm map is not up to date. Members can view this on the county's land use planning website. c) VAD Report/update: Perrin is currently out on parental leave until early June. She is working with a couple of prospective farms and will present those at a later meeting. d) Farmland Preservation Subcommittee: Saiers provided an update and PowerPoint showing the results of the 2022 USDA farm census survey, which had a high participation rate of about 61%. Since 2017, the number of farms in the county remains stable, while the acreage of land in farming and the average farm size are both decreasing. New and beginning producers are increasing (defined as farmers in operation for 10 or fewer years). The decrease in land now in farming is consistent with our own results from our GIS data. Farm income went down dramatically during that period. The majority of farms show less than $2,500 in sales. Agritourism has increased by both numbers and acreage. Our own farmer/landowner survey was emailed to over 350 addresses, with a total of 92 respondents, giving us about a 25% response rate which is typical for email. Most respondents farmed 50 acres or less. About half own or rent out forestland. 66%were 48 years old or older. For over 70%, farming was not their primary source of income. 68% percent employed 2 or fewer people. For 32%, agritourism was the primary source of farm income. 67% have farms or forestland enrolled in the PUV program. About 65% were aware of the VAD program, with about 45% enrolled. Nearly half intend to transfer their farms to family members for farm use, but 70% don't have a formal succession plan. Among the biggest challenges were labor costs and high cost of land. Discussion followed. These statistics made some members wonder why folks were actually farming in Orange County. How can we find ways for farmers to get fair market value for an easement, or fair market value for the sale of the entire farm if it's permanently protected? Would that be attractive? And how do we ensure that land will stay in farming after it goes to the next generation? Big AG interests are looking at the SE as a good area to invest in due to predictable rainfall in a changing climate. We know we can't afford to protect all the farmland in the county, so protecting the prime farmland may be one way to focus limited resources. Compensatory mitigation is another approach, as is currently done with wetlands. In that case, a developer would have to pay to mitigate the impact of the development on prime farmland. The goal 3 should be to create a system where the landowner feels like they don't lose money when they choose to protect farmland versus sell for development. e) Membership: Sandbeck reminded members that he is still looking for prospective candidates for the White Cross and Schley/Eno district positions. He referred everyone to the list handed out tonight, showing the VAD farm owners in both districts. The BOCC just approved Noah Rannels and Manley Palmer for appointment to our two vacant at-large positions, based on APB recommendations made at our January meeting. Staff will continue to seek new applicants. 7. Informational Items/Future Agenda Items: a. Extension and Ag Economic Development Activities: Ortosky provided a brief overview. The ag grant program continues to award grants. Farmland preservation policy continues to be a major focus. One approach is the traditional use of proscriptive guidelines or policies, along with programs like Lands Legacy and Conservation Easements. The existing flexible development component within our UDO, section 712, which is rarely/never used, does offer options to promote conserving open space and farmland with several options: estate lots of 4 acres or more with their open space counting toward the total acreage to be preserved; or conservation cluster development, with an internal transfer of density within a large farm parcel, allowing more houses in a higher density in a confined/small area, then preserving the rest of the farm as open space or active farmland. Then there is a village option, allowing for the creation of a small complete village with septic and water and multiple uses in one small area. Builders will need incentives to get them to buy into these concepts. Another path is to have ag zoning that utilizes the transfer of development rights. If a developer wants to develop higher density in a town, then he/she can pay toward land conservation at a designated high priority rural area, and in return obtains higher density. A variant is compensatory mitigation, whereby a developer pays a specific fee for developing farmland in one area, then that money goes toward protecting high priority land in another part of the county—much like the current wetlands programs. 8. Time for Information Sharing: Compton reminded members of the upcoming 77t" annual Piedmont Livestock show, on April 9t" and 101", with 116 kids will be entering this year. The Exchange Club will be having their flounder fish fry. Cedar Ridge will be hiring a new FFA teacher for the coming year. A new livestock agent is starting in the county this spring. Hughes reported that he's part of a group of interested citizens who are studying ways to restrain urban sprawl in the county, right now called Whole Orange. Let him know if you'd like to know more about this effort. Hooten noted that the historic Bingham School and its land, located on the corner of 54 and Mebane-Oaks will be coming up for sale. The 10-acre site is protected by preservation easements so it can't be subdivided. 9. Adjournment: Chair Hughes adjourned the meeting at 7:59 pm.