In an unanimous vote,
the board approved some proposed changes to the Uniform Rules, a local
regulatory scheme that governs a law known as the Williamson Act.
The law allows farm and
agricultural land owners to receive a property tax break in exchange for signing
a 10-year contract that limits the use of their land and preserves agricultural
areas. The Uniform Rules is the set of guidelines agricultural land owners must
follow in order to stay in compliance with the 10-year contract.
“I believe we reached a balance that
prohibited unnecessary industrialization of agricultural preserve contract
parcels in the Williamson Act,” said 1st District Supervisor Salud
Carbajal, who chaired the meeting. “I also think we deleted all of those
proposals that attempted to go beyond reasonable facilities that support
agriculture.”
In a nearly-four-hour
period, the board reviewed the proposed Uniform Rule changes and heard more
than 40 public comments. Some of the most significant changes included an
increase in the allowable acreage for agricultural processing facilities from
five acres to 30 acres, and for wineries from 5 acres to 20 acres; an increase
from one allowable principle dwelling per contract, to three allowable
principle dwellings per contract on agricultural lands, the implementation of
the allowance of commercial composting up to 20 acres; allowance of duck
shooting and wind farms, and the deletion of a clause permitting golf courses
and landfills on agricultural land.
Though county staff
requested that the board approve a clause that allowed an industrial overlay
and guest ranches, the board declined.
An industrial overlay
would have trumped certain restrictive provisions of the Williamson act by
allowing land owners to dedicate their land to any use supportive of
agricultural activities that play a key role in the county’s economy.
The guest ranch clause
would have allowed land owners who are contracted under the Williamson Act to
operate hostelry on the property that could house up to 15 guests in up to six
rooms.
Although the outcome did
not seem to satisfy everyone’s wish list, most of those who attended the
meeting felt the result was fair.
“I can’t say that I was
overly pleased with the outcome but it was fair,” said Jeff Frey, president of
the Santa Maria based Frey Farming. “I think that not having a guest ranch is
going to have a negative impact on some of the family ranches. They are very
limited already on ways to make a profit and this just cuts out another one.”
“I do believe that the
board came to a reasonable compromise,” he added. “I am very glad that they
settled yesterday and did not drag it on,”
Third District
Supervisor and board Chairman Brooks Firestone, who recused himself from the
meeting because of his personal economic interests, said that he, too, was
pleased with the outcome.
“I am delighted that
this has reached a conclusion. All of the changes sound reasonable, but the
devil is in the details,” he said. “Our county rules have been around for over
20 years. These rules absolutely needed to be updated because we were out of
compliance with the state laws. A lot of these things weren’t even thought of
when these rules were initiated.”
Though the Board
originally voted down the adoption of the new Uniform Rules, in a 2-2 vote,
after negotiating and taking a five minute break, board members voted
unanimously to adopt the new rules.
“We were working our way
through our disagreement, not everybody got what they wanted and at the end I
think we came out with a balanced outcome. I think everybody felt they got
something but not everything,” Carbajal said. “The unanimous vote was something
we struggled to reach consensus, but we did it.
The new Uniform Rules
have become effective as of Sept. 25.
“The Uniform Rules will
be immediately implemented, which means if someone was to come into the office
and propose to sign a contract, then these rules would apply. These are the
rules that now govern the contracts,” said John McInnes of the Office of Long
Range Planning.
For more information or to view the changes to the Uniform Rules,
visit
www.countyofsb.com.
