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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB Meeting Summary 05152024 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board Approved Meeting Summary: May 15t", 2024 ***Bonnie Davis Center*** 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Compton, Hooten, McAdams, Myers, Ranells, Saiers, Sykes, Taylor, Wagger, Woods Members Absent: Hughes, McPherson Guests: None Staff: Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resource Coordinator; Mike Ortosky, Community and Rural Development Agent 1. Call to order: Vice Chair Sykes called the meeting to order at 6:38 p.m. 2. Chair Comments/Introduction of guests: Sykes welcomed new member Noah Ranells, who gave a brief overview of his background. 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: None 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: Woods moved to approve the minutes for the March 201n meeting, seconded by Saiers; motion carried. S. Items for Decision: a) Membership: review of applications and recommendations for filling vacancies: Staff referred to the roster handout. Recently, staff discovered that the VAD farm owned by Michael Hughes is actually located in the White Cross VAD and not Cane Creek/Buckhorn, so this allows the APB to make a recommendation to shift Hughes from his current at-large position to fill the vacant White Cross district position. In addition, Ranells owns a VAD farm in the High Rock/Efland district, which will allow for a recommendation to shift him from an at-large position to fill the High Rock/Efland district position that will be vacant with the retirement of McAdams. This will fill two of the three district vacancies. McAdams made a motion to shift Hughes to the White Cross district position, and to shift Ranells to the High Rock/Efland district, seconded by Woods; motion carried. Three current members need to be reappointed: Hooten, Taylor and Palmer. All are willing to serve another term. Hooten moved to recommend the reappointment of these three members, seconded by Saiers; motion carried. That leaves three vacant at-large positions. Staff reviewed the current applications on file. Discussion followed. Hooten moved to recommend William Totten for the Schley/Eno district position, and Mary Beth Miller to an at-large position, seconded by 2 Myers; motion carried. Members asked staff to reach out to contact Mr. Meisner to get a better sense of his background and interests. 6. Discussion Items: a) Farmland Protection Subcommittee: Saiers reported that the subcommittee provided Planning staff with initial criteria for evaluating and identifying land for protection/ prioritization, as part of our input for the land use plan update. There are two general approaches that other areas have used: resource-based which is focused on protecting the prime soil, and farm-based, which looks at protecting the entire farm or parcel. A lot of counties have taken a hybrid approach that combines some aspects of both, as we do for our Lands Legacy program, which looks at soil significance, but also farm size, proximity to other farms, wildlife habitat/corridors, water quality protection etc. We want a process that is clear and objective, which led us to look at prime farmland as the best overall measure, along with a slope of less than 8% (and the land can't be developed). This gives Planning a tool to create maps showing the prime farmland. This is an approach with a lot of precedent. One challenge will be developing a method for updating the somewhat inaccurate old soil survey maps created before GIS. There might have to be an on-the- ground delineation process, similar to what is done for wetlands. In this scenario, a developer would include prime farmland mapping as part of their planning and permitting process, similar to wetlands. Discussion followed. 7. Informational Items/Future Agenda Items: a. Extension and Ag Economic Development Activities: Ortosky provided a PowerPoint update. Since 2016, the Ag Grant program has awarded 118 grants totaling $945,000; they are currently funded at a level of$150,000 per year, through a quarter cent slice of the retail sales tax. They will adjust to meeting three times per year. New infrastructure at the Breeze Farm includes a new power drop, a pole barn, new fencing for a corral for cattle and planning for a future agro-voltaic project with raised panels on about 2 acres. He's doing research for his doctorate program at NC State, looking at policy methodologies for preserving farmland a little more aggressively. All studies have consistently shown that Ag and Commercial land uses pay more in taxes than they cost the taxpayers. We're second behind Texas with total acres of farmland lost, but first in farmland lost as a percentage of total acres in the state. This is driven by a rapidly growing population. The current policies now in place are not effective in reducing farmland loss. The VAD program is a great success but this is a voluntary program so not binding if a farmer decides to sell to a developer. Current policy strategies being explored for farmland protection include: easements; federal farmland protection policies; agricultural zoning (for example: Montgomery Co. MD where there is zoning that's exclusively agricultural); purchase or transfer of development rights with sending/receiving areas—for example a farmer in Cedar Grove could sell development rights to a developer in Chapel Hill; and in-lieu fees as has been done with wetland impacts; and compensatory mitigation, again like the wetland programs. Any viable 3 farmland preservation options need to provide farmers with essentially the same per acre price that a developer would pay. He serves on the Tri-Cog (17 county region), which obtained grants of$375k to study and identify infrastructure needs required to grow the markets to expand local food systems to support local farming and improve profitability. The regional market is a huge opportunity but will require improved and coordinated aggregation and distribution, so that counties are working together and not competing with each other. b. Update on work of the Whole Orange Committee: Staff reported on behalf of Hughes who couldn't join us tonight. This is an informal assembly of local community leaders to create a working group to assess and address the broad issue of sprawl, which includes a focus on farmland preservation. They are meeting on a regular basis. Cy Stober, the county planning director, provided them with a presentation at their last meeting to share the latest update from the consultants for our land use planning update process. Staff shared the most recent land use plan presentation with members, highlighting the key areas of interest to the APB. Community engagement and participation is still lower than desired so that continues to be an issue. Farmland preservation is emerging as an important part of the overall set of goals, competing with things like affordable housing, homelessness, energy efficiency/carbon reduction, transportation etc. The consultants have created scenarios and maps showing what the county will look like depending on what the final plan includes, ranging from very protective approaches to farmland with things like cluster development and conservation development, to how it would look with no change and continued sprawl. Given the projected population growth, we will have to accept that there will be a lot more housing needed—so it will be a matter of how and where. A key issue will be the essential community services of water and sewer. The county commissioners wish to balance all these needs while keeping in mind all the real-world issues. Our input will continue to be critical. We'll have to respond quickly at each stage to ensure that our goals will get incorporated into the final plan. 8. Time for Information Sharing: Wagger shared the recent article about the Cedar Grove Law Firm, featured in the News of Orange. Staff reported on a recent planning application by a major national developer for a new subdivision on 63 acres on NC 54 in White Cross, which will contain 41 houses. This is a typical example of the standard sprawl approach now happening across the county, with 1 acre lots. Around half of this farm is prime farmland. There isn't any active farming taking place there now. Compton described his current challenge of getting a building permit for a new pole barn needed at Cedar Ridge High School. 9. Adjournment: Vice Chair Sykes adjourned the meeting at 8:13 pm.