Title
Vote to adopt the 2024 Chatham County Farmland Protection Plan and the 2025-2028 Farmland Protection Blueprint; vote to approve the FY 2025 CAPD Trust Fund schedule and budget
Abstract
Introduction & Background: The Chatham County Farmland Protection Plan was first adopted by the Board of Commissioners in 2010 and served as a reference and inspiration for many of the farmland preservation recommendations in the “Plan Chatham” Comprehensive Plan. The North Carolina Department of Agriculture (NCDA) encourages farmland protection plans and provides preferential scoring on grant applications for counties with adopted plans.
In 2023 and early 2024, consultants from the University of Mount Olive drafted a comprehensive update to the Farmland Protection Plan, soliciting survey feedback from over 300 Chatham County residents and conducting interviews with key personnel and leadership, and addressing emerging issues such as equity and ecological resilience.
Following delivery of the 2024 Farmland Protection Plan, staff at the Farmland Preservation Program created the 2025-2028 “Farmland Protection Blueprint” to identify short-term program priorities selected from the Farmland Protection Plan.
A key recommendation of the Farmland Protection Plan is funding support for farmland preservation on Chatham County farms. As part of this agenda item, farmland preservation staff will review the proposed schedule and budget for the second grant cycle of the Chatham Agricultural Preservation and Development (CAPD) Trust Fund.
This agenda item will conclude with a brief update on other initiatives from the Farmland Preservation Program, including a $300,000 grant award from NCDA and plans for our first annual “Chatham Farms Forever Day” on Thursday, December 5th.
Discussion & Analysis: The desired outcome for this agenda item is approval of a motion to adopt the 2024 Chatham County Farmland Protection Plan and the 2025-2028 Farmland Protection Blueprint. It is also requested that the BOC vote to approve the proposed schedule and budget for the FY 2025 CAPD Trust Fund Grant Cycle.
How does this relate to the Comprehensive Plan: A primary goal of the “Plan Chatham” Comprehensive Plan is to preserve, protect, and enable agriculture and forestry. Agricultural Policy #5 is to “Support permanent, voluntary protection of agricultural lands,” with a strategy recommendation to “implement a county-led farmland protection program.”
Budgetary Impact: The $325,000 funding recommendation represents the FY 2024 farmland preservation funding allocation from the Article 46 Tax Revenues dedicated for farmland preservation.
Recommendation/Motion: Motion to adopt the 2024 Farmland Protection Plan, adopt the 2025-2028 Farmland Protection Blueprint, and approve the FY 2025 CAPD schedule and budget.