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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB Meeting Summary 09182024 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board Approved Meeting Summary: Sept. 18t", 2024 ***Bonnie Davis Center*** 6:30 p.m. Members Present: Compton, Hooten, Hughes, McPherson, Saiers, Totten, Wagger Members Absent: Miller, Myers, Palmer, Ranells, Sykes, Taylor, Woods Guests: None Staff: Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resource Coordinator; Mike Ortosky, Community & Rural Development Agent 1. Call to order: Acting Chair Hughes called the meeting to order at 6:35 p.m. 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: Hughes recognized that there wasn't a quorum present, so the APB won't be able to make any formal motions or votes at this meeting. 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: Staff wished to add two new items: the Chatham Co. farmland preservation program, and a $1.4 million grant for farmland preservation projects. 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: No action taken due to lack of a quorum. S. Items for Decision: Official action on these items had to be deferred to the November meeting due to a lack of a quorum. Staff provided information/discussion about each one. a) VAD Breakfast: Staff reviewed the proposal for the upcoming VAD breakfast feedback about the agenda. The plan is to hold this at Camp Chestnut Ridge near Efland, which is a central location for many. Members discussed the agenda and made suggestions about possible speakers who could discuss their experiences with the VAD program and/or easements. Suggestions were also made about keynote speakers. b) Farm Succession Program: Staff proposed that the APB partner with Extension and the Soil Service to co-sponsor an informational program about Farm Succession Planning by the Cedar Grove Law Firm. Members offered their support for such a program, tentatively set to take place in early December. The law firm offered to provide coffee and breakfast snacks. Members supported the idea of co-hosting this event as it's a big issue for landowners. c) VAD Applications: These were deferred until the November meeting. d) Membership: Staff reviewed the current membership applications. There is one vacant at- large position. Staff will email all current applications to members with a request to rank the applicants for recommendation. There was a general agreement that Ms. Weitzel had a good background with her extensive work experience with state agricultural programs. 2 6. Discussion Items: a) Farmland Preservation Subcommittee: The group is continuing to work on the new draft of our farmland protection plan, to update our existing plan from 2009. We plan to have a rough version for the APB to review sometime in November. One idea is to plan a stand- alone meeting when members can just focus on discussing the draft plan. We can aim for scheduling a working session, possibly in December. An alternative would be to hold this working session in January, in lieu of our regular meeting. The APB has two parallel tasks: a) to provide input to the county land use planning process; and b) reviewing our updated farmland preservation plan. There was general agreement that the first priority is to formulate/submit APB input for the land use plan, which is time-sensitive. Then we can focus on the update of the farmland preservation plan, which isn't as critical. There was interest in doing this via a zoom meeting. An alternative is to hold it in-person with a zoom room option for those who need that. b) County Land Use Plan update: Staff shared the most recent presentation from the planning consultants. This provides four proposed hypothetical alternatives for stakeholders to review. The consultants attempted to incorporate the three primary goals that came out of public input: ag/env protection; affordable housing; and climate responsive transportation and economic development. The four alternatives were ranked in terms of how well each of the three goals is met. Staff showed the alternatives. The first illustrated the outcome with a continuation of existing policies. Discussion focused on the three proposed new scenarios. The second appeared to fail to slow down the large-lot development patterns. Members observed that in general, none of the alternatives alone were going to address farmland loss with enough force to make a lasting difference. The conservation development option didn't seem realistic. Water and sewer/septic are big issues. Nor do the plans appear to give weight to the cost of community services. Discussion followed. Another challenge is the gradual retirement of traditional farmers who have large landholdings. Also, there is the option of trying to match up folks who want to farm with folks who have land that they aren't using. The best farm preservation outcome will most likely be obtained by merging different viable components from the three new alternative scenarios to come up with the APB's own recommendations. 7. Informational Items/Future Agenda Items: a. Extension and Ag Economic Development Activities: Ortosky reported that he and Saiers were going to be serving as panelists on a panel discussion on farmland preservation at the annual meeting of the NC Chapter of the American Planning Association. The topic will be planning for agriculture instead of planning around it. Some expressed interest in seeing a video or summary of the panel. b. New items: Chatham Co farmland program: We just learned that Chatham County has decided to utilize their PUV recapture funds to help fund farmland preservation. Wake also does this now. Having these two neighboring counties using this approach will help with our 3 effort to implement such a program here. Also, Orange Co.just received a grant of$1.4 million from the state's new Agricultural Growth Zone grant program, to specifically fund farmland easement projects; this needs to be matched by some source, either county, grants, owner donation matches etc. 8. Time for Information Sharing: Compton reminded members to stop by at the Exchange Club Fish Fry, coming up soon on Oct. 10-11 for lunch and dinner. He also noted that the Orange Co. FFA is now working on a history of the county's FFA program, going to each of the participating schools. He noted that progress has been made on resolving the logjam on the proposed construction of the new Ag Barn at Cedar Ridge High. 9. Adjournment: Hughes closed the meeting at 8:05 pm.