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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAPB Meeting Summary 09172025 Orange County Agricultural Preservation Board Approved Meeting Summary: September 17', 2025 ***Bonnie Davis Center, 1020 US 70 West, Hillsborough *** 6:30 pm Members Present: Compton, Hooten, Hughes, Miller, Ranells, Rose, Thompson, Totten, Wagger, Weitzel Members Absent: Taylor, Woods Guests: Laura Streitfeld, Preserve Rural Orange Staff: Jessica Perrin, Soil and Water Conservation Manager, Peter Sandbeck, Cultural Resources Coordinator 1. Call to order: Chair Hughes called the meeting to order at 6:31 pm 2. Chair Comments/Introductions: New members and existing members shared introductions 3. Considerations of Additions to Agenda: None 4. Meeting Summary/Minutes: Compton moved to approve the meeting summary for July 30tn 2025, seconded by Weitzel; motion passed. S. Items for Decision: a) Election of Vice Chair: Chair Hughes opened the floor for discussion and possible volunteers or nominees. After discussion, Mary Beth Miller volunteered to serve as vice chair. Hooten moved to nominate Miller as vice chair, seconded by Weitzel; motion carried. 6. Discussion Items: a) Presentation by Laura Streitfeld on behalf of Preserve Rural Orange: Ms. Streitfeld introduced herself. Her group was initially mobilized in 2008 when a new airport was proposed by UNC in rural Bingham Township and has since then focused on farmland preservation. She urged us to share our current plan drafts with the public to help raise awareness. A major concern is the ongoing rezoning that permits new subdivisions on large farm tracts, which seems to undermine our initiatives to preserve farmland. The land use plan update process is of major importance, even though it is a vision plan and not an update to the UDO. Concerns include: rural activity nodes definitions; the proposed conservation clusters; and how this plan might end up being less restrictive on rural development. An example is the current proposal to rezone a large farm on NC 54 at White 7 2 Cross for a new subdivision. Discussion followed. Ms. Streitfeld appreciated the way our new preservation plan draft provided numbers and detail. Her group will help with supporting our efforts and getting folks to turn out for special meetings. She urged the APB to be as active as possible in the current land use plan update process. Perhaps the APB could work with her group to host a listening session in Bingham Township. In some ways farmland preservation is about the choice or vision for the county, which is a political decision. We need to decide if we wish to retain farming and rural land or grow into a county that is largely a bedroom community for nearby cities. It was significant that the public input surveys for the land use plan update revealed that residents placed highest priority on farmland preservation and supporting agriculture. b) VAD Program Updates and Planning for VAD Breakfast: Perrin provided an overview of an application by Daniel Kosciusko, for 2.36 acres on Erwin Road, near Mt. Moriah Rd. They have planted an area of approximately% acre in blueberries. They have future plans to plant an orchard. He has a pollinator garden in the front yard. Our ordinance currently stipulates that a farm must have at least one acre in active cultivation in order to qualify for the VAD program in horticulture. Does their farm currently meet the requirements to be considered a bona fide farm? Not at this stage, due to the fact that they haven't had any sales yet. The owners wish to show that agriculture can be done on small parcels, as a way to recognize that farming is happening while there is a large subdivision being proposed. Discussion followed. Members agreed that the owners are doing good work but felt that they couldn't approve it due to the acreage. Ranells moved to deny the application, but encouraged the owners to reapply once they reach the 1 acre threshold; seconded by Hooten. Our annual VAD breakfast will take place on Nov. 19t", at 8 am at Camp Chestnut Ridge. Invitations will be sent in October, including to the BOCC and county manager. c) Grant application for Cost of Community Services Study: Staff submitted a letter of intent to initiate our application to the NC ADFP Trust Fund, for a grant of up to $14,000 to pay for a new study to update our 2006 study. We can match this with the gift of$2,000 from the OC Farm Bureau that we received thanks to the efforts by former member Howard McAdams. Mike Ortosky has encouraged us to update this. Staff shared the Wake County study from 2024 as a good example. Most past studies have demonstrated that for every dollar of county revenue, the cost to the county of servicing farmland ranges from 25-75 cents versus well over$1.25 or higher for residential. Perrin noted that Wake and Chatham counties have both implemented PUV rollback funding for farmland preservation. This is essentially saying that "ag pays for itself." d) Improvements to the APB website: Staff provided an overview of an effort to update and enhance the APB's website, to create a new landing page for the new plan that provides access and illustrates our process. Members viewed the various separate websites now hosted by the county for the different farm/ag programs. It isn't easy to find farmland resources. Members thought it might be best to host it on our own APB board page, with staff email address for the public feedback. Staff will work on getting this implemented. 3 Discussion followed about the importance of engaging the county commissioners in our work, including inviting them to our VAD breakfast. As an aside, we need to invite Dana Hall from tax administration to come back to talk with us again, at our January meeting. 7. Informational Items/Updates: a. Farmland Preservation Subcommittee: the subcommittee will reconvene this fall to revisit changes made in response to reviews by county legal staff, Planning staff and members. The group will make sure it fully reflects the goals and intent of the APB, then bring the updated version back to membership, ideally in November. Our goal is to get the plan back to the BOCC, possibly for a work session, sometime by late winter, before they start in on the new budget process. Then we'll present the final plan at a regular business meeting when the public and our supporters can speak in support. One of our goals is to help the BOCC know the Ag board better and understand our work. We need to build our coalition and invite supporters of ag preservation and the farm community to the BOCC public meeting. And equally important is the need to focus on building relationships with our county commissioners, and also identify supporters who have relationships with the BOCC. b. Membership appointments made on Sept. 16t": Staff handed out a new updated roster to reflect the new appointments made last night and asked members to review their contact information. We're looking for a potential volunteer to serve as the vice-chair. Mary Beth Miller volunteered to serve as vice chair. Hooten moved to appoint Miller as vice chair, seconded by Weitzel; motion carried. c. Extension and Ag Economic Development activities: No report. 8. Time for Information Sharing: Compton reported that work has started on the new ag barn facility at Cedar Ridge, after resolving long-standing issues over the building permit and surveying. They've been working on this project since 2016. They had to get a new bid, which ended up being over $40k higher than the old bid from a few years ago. 9. Adjournment: Hooten moved to adjourn, seconded by Weitzel; meeting adjourned at 8:33 pm.