Bethany Fuller | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | Dec. 5, 2007

Iredell County commissioners received a round of applause Tuesday night after they unanimously approved the passage of the Enhanced Voluntary Agricultural Districts Ordinance.

More than 50 farmers and north Iredell residents came out to support the ordinance, including members of the Iredell Neighbors for Rural Life.

“We feel it is a much better document today and it is something to be proud of,” said Jim Dobson, chairman of the Farmland Preservation Board. “This is a step to a comprehensive farmland protection plan.”

Under the new ordinance, farmers who sign up for a 10-year conservation easement will be allowed to receive up to 25 percent of gross sales from the sale of non-farm products and still maintain the zoning exemption granted to bona fide farming operations.

Even though the state law permitting EVAD was passed in 2005, Dobson told commissioners the 10-year conservation easement scared several people on the Farmland Preservation Board.

That board reconsidered its position after several young farmers missed out on a state grant opportunity because the county didn’t have an EVAD program in place.

County Planning and Development Director Ron Smith said the planning staff has spent some time in the past couple of weeks sharpening the definitions within the ordinance.

The county even received some input from an attorney at Parker, Poe, Adams and Bernstein, which represents the Iredell Neighbors for Rural Life in a lawsuit against the county.

“I feel very comfortable with this,” Smith said.

Vaughn Sprinkle, who runs the Future Farmers of America programs at North Iredell High School, said agriculture is still a big part of Iredell County’s economy.

“It is what makes us special,” he said. “The east, west and north portions of the county still have farmland.”

Iredell Neighbors for Rural Life board members Jerry Mishoe and Randy Bridges both spoke in favor of the ordinance.

The group’s attorney asked commissioners a couple weeks ago to delay the public hearing. Mishoe urged them to develop an agri-business park to help farmers, the same way it helps industrial and manufacturing companies.

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