Agenda - Planning Commission - 04/01/1997

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California. She compares agricultural buffers to buffers used be~veen industrial and residential areas. The city of Napa, California, has an agricultural buffer plan requirement for all residentially zoned lots along the agricultural-urban fringe that are adjacent to properties designated in the Napa County general plan as a preserved agricultural resource. The agricultural buffer plan ma3, also be applied to farmland that is not designated an agricultural resource. The buffer plan requires a setback of not less than 80 feet from the property line for dwellings. Within the setback, a landscape buffer is required with a minimum width of 15 feet consisting of trees, shrubs, berms, fences, or other visual screening. Noise-reducing design and building construction techniques are also required under the plau. This includes such design techniques as window-door orientation and the use of double-pane windows. agricultural use. The ordinance specifies that the buffer area may not be used for structures for human occupancy. Nuisance disclafmers. A nuisance disclaimer notifies potential owners of nonfarm property in agricultural areas of possible adverse impacts associated with normal agricultural practices. While written disclosure does not eliminate the complaints from nonfarm residents, it does notify a homeowner that charges against standard farm'ing operations may not stand in court. Several townships in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, have adopted such disclaimers as part of their zoning ordinances. Nuisance disclaimers have proven to be a very successful technique for controlling right-to-farm suits, according to Tom Daniels, director of the county's Agricultural Preserve Board, "It is important to educate the new rural resident that the scenery is not cost-free," says Daniels. Reshaping raany popular perceptions, this map developed by the American 2:armland Trust shows man), high-value agricultural areas thriving at the edge of growing urban areas. national agriculture value -- and high growth Counties with high state agriculture value and high growth oAlJe~tsher urban influenced Handel has studied the use of buffers in Napa and has determined that there are fewer complaints to the county agricultural commissioner from the city's northern edge than from other areas. The northern edge consists primarily of agricultural lands designated as a protected resource, an area where buffers are required, while other ~gricultural- urban edge areas of the city do not have the buffer requirement. In San Luis Obispo County, California, the agricultural buffer policy designates buffer width requirements according to the type of crop production. Buffer requirements are made on a case-by-case basis, considering the extent and type of agricultural use, zoning, the nature of the specific site such as topography and the prevailing wind direction, and other significant factors. For example, buffer distance requirements range from 400 to 800 feet for vineyards, 300 to 800 feet for irrigated orchards, and 100 to 400 feet for field crops. The zoning ordinance in Citrus County, Florida, requires the owner of property adjacent to or abutting an existing agricultural use to provide a buffer of not tess than 100 feet be~veen the proposed nonagricultural use and the existing Laura Thompson is an APA research inter, and a graduate studet~t i, pla~mi,g at the UniversiO, of ]l/i,ois at Chicago. The Napa, California, agricultural buffer plan requires a recorded notice for all properties designated in the buffer plan. The notice indicates that "the property may be subjected to noise, odors, pests, spraying, and other potential nuisance problems associated with normal agricultural practices." It also informs potential property owners that, under state and local law, the farmer has the right to farm and the owner of adjoining property may not sue to prevent normal agricultural activities. A technique similar to the nuisance disclaimer has been adopted in Fremont Count3,, Idaho. Known as a resource easement, it runs with the land and requires that landowners ofnonfarm properties located in agricultural zones record an easement restriction that identifies possible adverse impacts on the property associated with nearby farming activities. A building permit will not be issued for a home in a farming area until the easement has been recorded. Rodney Eastvold, the Fremont County planning and zoning administrator, says that since the adoption of the resource easement requirement in 1992, the county has not had problems with conflicts between agricultural and residential uses. Urban growth boundaries. Urban growth boundaries, or urban limit lines, are long-term boundaries that define growth in an area. This technique has been used as a tool to reduce conflict between agricultural and urban land uses by establishing a comprehensive, long-term plan for development to discourage sprawl into agricultural areas.