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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 02051991 - IO.4 I.O.-4 BOARD OF SUPERVISORS Contra FROM: INTERNAL OPERATIONS COMMITTEE 'S- 'i Costa DATE: January 28, 1991 �Y" ? r County r"��:�:--=;y�•` coy. CREATE AN AGRICULTURAL TASK FORCE, ESTABLISH THE COMPOSITION SUBJECT: FOR THE TASK FORCE AND APPROVE THE CHARGE TO THE- TASK FORCE SPECIFIC REQUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS: 1 . Form an Agricultural Task Force to be composed of 14 voting members and two non-voting members. Nominations should be requested from the groups and organizations identified in Recommendation # 5 below. 2. The Task Force is to exist from March 5, 1991 to March 4, 1993 . 3 . The Task Force is to submit formal progress reports to the Board of Supervisors on a semi-annual basis, as follows: August, 1991 February, 1992 August, 1992 February, 1993 4. The charge to the Task Force is to be as. follows: * To advise the Board of Supervisors how to implement the 65/35 Land Preservation Plan as it relates to agricultural lands. The Task Force is also to consider establishing an Agricultural Trust Fund as part of this charge. * To advise the Board of Supervisors regarding financial support to property owners who wish to keep their lands in agricultural use. CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENYeS Y SIGNATURE: RECOMMENDATION OF C&YIS RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVESIGNATURE S: RODER SUNNE WRIGHT McPEAK ACTION OF BOARD ON Februa y 5 APPROVED AS RECOMMENDED X OTHER * Supervisor Fanden voted NO on Recommendation #5 VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE X* UNANIMOUSABSENT ( ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES: NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. CC: County Administrator ATTESTED Community Development Director Auditor-Controller PHIL BATCHELOR,&KERK OF THE BOARD OF Dennis Barry, General Plan Coord. , CDD SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR County Agricultural Commissioner BY DEPUTY M382 (10/88) . * To advise the Board of Supervisors on appropriate standards for allowing the transfer of the permitted residential density of large agricultural parcels to more appropriate building sites and to allow for the. clustering of these residential units. * To advise the Board of Supervisors on the implementation of General Plan policies related to Agriculture. * To advise the Board of Supervisors on the development of zoning guidelines for country stores and fruit stands and make recommendations on any changes to State law which govern such operations. 5. Refer to the Internal Operations Committee the responsibility to identify and recommend to the Board of Supervisors possible uses of the $2..00 solid waste tipping fee, which is to be used to acquire additional open space and for supporting the agriculture industry in this County and refer to the Board of Supervisors' Liaison Committee to the East Bay Regional Park District, coordination in this regard involving open space. 6. Membership on . the Agricultural Task Force should be drawn from nominations of at least two individuals for each of the seats from the following groups and organizations: Cattlemen' s Association Contra Costa Farm Bureau, (3 ) seats . Nursery Growers Association United States Department of Agriculture Soil Conservation Service County Agricultural Commissioner Ranchers Community Association of Family Farmers East County FARMER S. H. Cowell Foundation East Contra Costa Irrigation District Byron-Bethany Irrigation District Knightsen Community Council East Bay Regional Parks District (non voting member) American Farmland Trust (non voting member) * Representing various types of farming which are performed in Contra Costa County such as orchard farming, row crop farming and dairy farming. 7 . Request staff from the Community Development Department to contact each of the above groups and request that they submit nominations to the Agricultural Task Force by February 20, 1991. 8. Request the Community Development Director to submit the proposed membership of the Agricultural Task Force to the Internal Operations Committee on February 25, 1991 based on the nominations received from the above groups and organizations. BACKGROUND: On December 4, 1990, the Board of Supervisors agreed to form an Agricultural Task Force for a two-year period with the understanding that the Task Force would serve specific identified functions involved in implementing the General Plan policies related to agriculture. and related tasks. The Community Development Director was asked to return to our Committee on January 28, 1991 with the specific charge to the Task Force and a list of the proposed membership of the Task Force. -2- On January 28, 1991, our Committee met with leaders from the farming community, the County Agricultural Commissioner and staff from the Community Development Department. We reviewed the attached written report from East County FARMER. We received and reviewed a report from the Community Development Director outlining the proposed charge to the Task Force and the proposed membership of the Task Force. Our Committee made a few changes in the charge to the Task Force and in the proposed membership of the Task Force in order to broaden it to include other types of farming and other concerned agencies. The above recommendations appear to meet with the approval of all parties present at our meeting. We look forward to recommending the appointments to the Task Force at our meeting on February 25, 1991 and to working through some of the issues involved in determining how the $2. 00 solid waste tipping fee should be utilized by the Board of Supervisors. -3- East C o U'n t Y FARMER Jan 28 , 19 91 P.O. Box 16 Knightsen, CA 94548 (415) 634-5004 Board of Supervisors Clerk Dear Sir : My name is Gene Harrison, my residence is PO Box 16 , Knightsen, CA . I am here today to offer testimony on behalf of the East County Farmer Group. You may . recall that we last appeared before you in December 1990 , speaking to the problems and opportunities that lie ahead imple- menting the new Contra Costa County General Plan. Since then we have met with Mr . Dennis Barry of the Community Development group at which time we learned that it is planned to create a single new Agriculture Committee replacing the two Ag committees that currently exist . We concur with this as we believe a new mission for such a group is brought into being with adoption of the General Plan . We wish to offer suggestions this morning relating to the selection of persons or organizations to make up the new committee and to its mission. In organizing this committee, the membership may be chosen on an adversarial basis with representation of groups on both sides of issues (as. was the case in the Planning. Congress Ag Task Force) . As an alternative , membership may be selected from those who play a direct role in the County ' s agricultural ,activities . Of the five groups who are specifically involved with agriculture in the area , the nurserymen who specialize in flowers and potted plants (mainly in West County) , and the orchard and row-crop farmers most of whose acreage is in. the 'Ag Core ' area constitute the principal agricultural product for the county and employ the preponderant number of workers . We believe these groups .should be represented accordingly on the committee . East County Farmer represents the latter of these two groups . We do not believe that organizations such as the Sierra Club or Green Belt Alliance have a place on this committee . Since these groups have neither a direct involvement in agricuiture nor any responsibility toward either the success of an agricultural ent- erprise -or the financial stability of the County , we see nothing served by the confusion they foster in trying to reach solutions to the problems facing the agricultural community . The East County Farmer group is ready to c:o what we can to sup- ort you in .the decisions you must make , as we have in the past .