DELAWARE COUNTY AGRICULTURAL AND FARMLAND PROTECTION BOARD
The Delaware County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board consists of eleven members, at least four of whom are active farmers. One member of such board represents area agribusiness and another member represents an organization dedicated to agricultural land preservation. These six members are required to reside within Delaware County. The Board membership also includes the chairperson of the County Soil and Water Conservation District’s board of directors, a member of the Delaware County Board of Supervisors, a county cooperative extension agent, the county planning director and the county director of real property tax services.
New York State Agriculture & Markets Law dictates how appointments and term renewals are handled. Any member of the board may be reappointed for a succeeding four-year term on without limitations as to the number of terms the member may serve.
The County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board serves two major functions: the review of Delaware Countys State-Certified Agricultural Districts and the review and recommendation of Notice of Intent (NOI) referrals. A NOI results when lands any agency of the state, any public benefit corporation or any local government which intends to acquire land or any interest therein, provided that the acquisition from any one actively operated farm within the district would be in excess of one acre or that the total acquisition within the district would be in excess of ten acres, or which intends to construct, or advance a grant, loan, interest subsidy or other funds within a district to construct, dwellings, commercial or industrial facilities, water or sewer facilities to serve non-farm structures.
Agricultural data statement; submission, evaluation. Any application for a special use permit, site plan approval, use variance, or subdivision approval requiring municipal review and approval by a planning board, zoning board of appeals, town board, or village board of trustees pursuant to article sixteen of the town law or article seven of the village law, that would occur on property within an agricultural district containing a farm operation or on property with boundaries within five hundred feet of a farm operation located in an agricultural district, shall include an agricultural data statement. The planning board, zoning board of appeals, town board, or village board of trustees shall evaluate and consider the agricultural data statement in its review of the possible impacts of the proposed project upon the functioning of farm operations within such agricultural district. The information required by an agricultural data statement may be included as part of any other application form required by local law, ordinance or regulation
Delaware County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Plan