Terre Logsdon – Record-Bee staff
LAKEPORT ? The future of agricultural lands in Lake County will receive special attention in the county”s new General Plan, which is slated to be completed later this year.
This week, the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to support recommendations from the Lake County Farm Bureau”s (LCFB) Land Use committee, including adding an agriculture element to the new General Plan.
“We”re very pleased,” said LCFB Executive Director Chuck March. “Hopefully we can move forward on this in an expedited manner.”
The Board of Supervisors requested that the LCFB comment on Community Development Department staff”s proposal to reduce the agricultural zoning minimum acreage size from 40 acres to 20 acres.
“As you are aware,” March wrote in a letter to the board, “this has triggered a huge amount of discussion within the agricultural community.”
A petition has even been circulating requesting that agricultural zoning be reduced to five acres. The document reportedly has more than 40 signatures on it, with most of the signatories being local pear farmers.
The Farm Bureau recommended to the board five items that they felt needed to be addressed in order to protect agriculture”s future in the county, including giving agriculture its own element in the new General Plan.
The recommendations are:
? Temporarily keeping the 40-acre minimum in the General Plan update so as not to delay the planning process.
? Immediately appointing a commit-tee to develop an agricultural element to be amended into the General Plan upon its final approval.
? Giving all sectors of county agriculture a voice on the General Plan committee, including ? but not limited to ? the pear, grape and walnut industries, farmers” market, cattleman”s association, nursery products and organizations such as California Women for Agriculture.
? Making funds available for professional technical assistance in developing the agricultural element.
? Immediately research, and perhaps halt, the certificate of compliance process on historic parcels.
Board Chair Anthony Farrington asked if there were any problems with having members of the public sit on the agriculture element committee. March replied there wouldn”t be any problem with it, “as long as the various stakeholders are represented.”
District 5 Supervisor Rob Brown said, “I”m not averse to having the public on the committee, but this is about the future of the ag community.”
Regarding the recommendation to seek technical assistance, Rick Coel of the Community Development Department explained, “We need to get some technical expertise from a professional. The CDD would develop a request for proposals for consultants. I don”t have a good guesstimate of how much this would cost.”
The suggestion relating to historic parcels resulted in the most discussion.
March explained that a historic parcel is a legal subdivision of land that has never been acknowledged by the county.
“Some problems we foresee are historic parcels and the certificates of compliance process,” March said. “Twenty-five percent of ag-zoned parcels are five acres or less because of historic parcels and the certificates of compliance.”
He offered the example of a Scotts Valley landowner who has a 54-acre parcel in an area zoned agricultural with a 40-acre minimum; so they cannot divide their property.
However, on the landowner”s deed the parcel had previously been subdivided into six legal parcels which the county never recorded. So this landowner has a historic parcel ? which means they can go to the county and file a certificate of compliance ? and have six nine-acre parcels in an area zoned for 40-acre minimums.
That results in land that is much easier to sell, which increases the land value.
Finding historic parcels on ag land has been likened to “winning the lottery” according to a report titled “The effect of historic parcels on agriculture ? Harvesting houses” by the Modesto-based nonprofit Great Valley Center.
That organization promotes economic, social and environmental well-being in the Central Valley, which includes ensuring that Central Valley farmland remains in agricultural production.
“The reason for the price inflation is that historic parcels allow property owners to circumvent local zoning restrictions on land development,” the report states.
District 1 Supervisor Ed Robey asked if the county could halt issuing certificates of compliance, to which County Counsel Anita Grant answered that she and Coel will research the issue and bring the item back to the board on June 15.
Ken Barr, a pear farmer who started the petition to change the minimum agricultural lot size from 40 acres to a five-acre minimum, told the board, “We”re involved in a commodity that”s not economically viable in Lake County any more.
“I”ve been one of the diligent ones trying to preserve ag,” Barr said, “but the writing is on the wall. A 40-acre parcel is pretty much unsellable, but a five-acre one is (saleable.”)
Barr added, “I”m a farmer because I want to be, but I don”t want to go down with the ship when it hits an iceberg.”
Victoria Brandon, chair of the Lake County chapter of the Sierra Club, said the group supports having the agriculture element in the General Plan because it”s important for the entire community “to ensure the viability of agriculture in our county.”
“The issue of landowners making a killing selling out for ?McMansions” doesn”t thrill us,” Brandon said, adding that she hopes the zoning issues will be resolved for the benefit of agriculture.
Philip Murphy, a Finley walnut farmer, suggested that the committee members be under the age of 45 because those who are older “are not looking out for the future of ag, they”re looking out for their retirement.”
A portion of the Great Valley Center”s report supports Murphy”s claim. “As California”s current farming generation approaches retirement age, pressure builds to yield to the temptation to cash out.”
March said the committee formation process would begin when Community Development begins advertising the committee”s creation and starts accepting applications.
Broad-based agricultural policies need to be addressed, March said, including buffer zones on ag lands, defining agritourism and the zoning issues.
“We hope the committee can form and meet as soon as possible,” he said.
The issue of halting certificates of compliance will be back before the board in June.
Contact Terre Logsdon at tlogsdon@record-bee.com.
