Eastern Agricultural District #6 Monroe County, New York 2007 AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT REVIEW

200 Pages·2008·8.88 MB·English

Eastern Agricultural District #6
Monroe County, New York

2007 AGRICULTURAL DISTRICT REVIEW

Prepared for: The Monroe County Legislature
Prepared by: The Monroe County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board
and the
Monroe County Planning Board

Eastern Agricultural District #6
Monroe County, New York
2007 Agricultural District Review

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
NYS Dept. of Agriculture and Markets Letter of District Certification .................................i

1.0 INTRODUCTION...................................................................................................1

2.0 REVIEW PROCESS...............................................................................................1

3.0 DISTRICT REVIEW...............................................................................................2

3.1 Proposed District Boundary Modifications...................................................2
3.2 Consideration of Review Factors...................................................................3

3.2.1 Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board Factors.......................3
3.2.2 County Planning Board Factors........................................................5

4.0 RECOMMENDATION...........................................................................................15

Tables
Table Page
1. Proposed Agricultural District Inclusions & Exclusions...................................................3

Maps

Map
1. Monroe County Agricultural Districts...............................................................................20
2. Updated NE Agricultural District #3 and SE Agricultural District #4..............................21

Appendices
(following maps)

A. List of Parcels Comprising Existing District, 1999-2007
B. Affidavits of Publication of 30-Day Review and Public Hearing Legal Notices and Public Hearing
Record Summary
C. District Modifications
D. Agricultural District Review Profile (RA-114)
E. Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board and County Planning Board Recommendations
F. Short Environmental Assessment Form and Negative Declaration
G. Monroe County Legislature Resolution

For information concerning this report, contact
Robert King, Monroe Community College, Agriculture and Life Science Institute, [phone]; or
Rochelle Bell, Monroe County Department of Planning and Development, [phone]

Eastern Agricultural District #6
Monroe County, New York
2007 Agricultural District Review
1.0 INTRODUCTION

Article 25AA, “Agricultural Districts,” of the New York State Agriculture and Markets Law
(NYS AML) provides counties with the opportunity to create agricultural districts for the purpose
of protecting and promoting the agriculture industry. Once created, the law requires that each
district be reviewed on an eight, ten, or 12-year basis to see if it is still achieving its intended
purpose. In Monroe County, districts must be reviewed every eight years.

New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, Article 25AA, Section 303-a(1) provides for a
county legislature to review an agricultural district eight years after its creation and every eight
years thereafter, and recommend continuation, termination or modification of the district. The
Northeastern Agricultural District was created in 1975 as the County’s third and smallest
agricultural district, while the Southeastern Agricultural District was also created in 1975 as the
County’s fourth agricultural district. The Northeastern and Southeastern Agricultural Districts
were reviewed simultaneously in 1999. The list of parcels that comprise these two districts is
included as Appendix A. This list contains parcels that were added in 2003, 2004 and 2006 per
Section 303-b of NYS AML, Article 25AA.

Section 303-a(1) of the NYS AML also permits the county legislature to extend reviews and
combine districts, especially those whose anniversary dates are within twelve months of each
other. The anniversary date for the Northeastern Agricultural District #3 was May 13, 2007,
while the anniversary date for the Southeastern Agricultural District #4 was October 12, 2007. In
order to expedite the review of these two districts, the Monroe County Legislature approved a
resolution to petition the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Agriculture and
Markets (NYS DAM) to change the anniversary date of the Northeastern Agricultural District #3
from May 13, 2007, to October 12, 2007 (the anniversary date of Southeastern Agricultural
District #4) and to consolidated the two districts and, to avoid confusion, rename the consolidated
district the Eastern Agricultural District #6 while retaining the October 12, 2007, anniversary
date.

Monroe County’s Northeastern Agricultural District #3 is located in the Towns of Webster,
and Penfield; Monroe County’s Southeastern Agricultural District #4 is located in the Towns of
Pittsford, Perinton, Mendon, Rush, and Henrietta (see Map 1). The following sections of this
report contains an overview of the review process, a listing of proposed modifications to the
Southeastern Agricultural District (no changes were requested or recommended for the
Northeastern Agricultural District), a discussion of the review factors that are required in Article
25AA for district reviews, and the recommendation to continue the districts with modifications to
the Southeastern District and to consolidate them.

2.0 REVIEW PROCESS

The agricultural district review process is prescribed in NYS AML, Article 25AA, Section
303-a. The process calls for the agricultural and farmland protection board and the county
planning board to prepare a report concerning various factors and make a recommendation to the
county legislative body regarding the district. The review is a participatory process that also
includes citizens within and adjacent to the district and encourages landowners to review and to
provide direct input in the final makeup of the district. It is during this review process that a
landowner may request to add land to or remove land from a district. Adding land to and/or
removing land from a district results in a modified district. Finally, input is also solicited from
town leaders, core farmers, and local agribusiness experts.

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Eastern Agricultural District #6
Monroe County, New York
2007 Agricultural District Review

Agricultural and farmland protection boards are established pursuant to NYS AML, Article
25AA, Section 302. One of the board’s responsibilities is to ensure that agricultural interests are
considered during the review process. County planning boards are responsible for representing
county and local governments in the review process. The combined expertise of these two boards
ensures that a thorough review of the district is undertaken. The knowledge of these boards on
the review factors enables them to advise the county legislative body on the benefits associated
with agriculture, both as a land use and as an integral part of the county’s economy.

The specific process for the agricultural district renewal in general is as follows:

After receiving notification from the state that the review should be undertaken, the
county legislative body publishes a legal notice announcing that the review is underway
and that the municipalities in the district and the public have 30 days to submit requests
for district modification to the county legislative body. The review considers the needs
of the farmers in this area and the development goals and objectives of the municipalities
within the agricultural district, and the County’s development goals and objectives for the
area of the County in which the district is located.

At the end of the 30-day period, the requests received by the county legislative body are
forwarded to the agricultural and farmland protection board and the county planning
board for review. These two boards use these communications along with other pertinent
information to develop a joint recommendation on the district. This recommendation is
then forwarded to the county legislative body for action.

The county legislative body holds a public hearing at a location in the agricultural district
to present the joint recommendation and to obtain any final comments. If necessary, the
legislative body revises the recommendation following the public hearing and typically
acts to continue and/or modify the district. This recommendation is then forwarded to the
NYS DAM for district certification. The review process ends when the county receives a
district certification notice from the Department of Agriculture and Markets.

3.0 DISTRICT REVIEW

After receiving notification from NYS DAM that the review of the Northeastern Agricultural
District #3 and the Southeastern Agricultural District #4 should be undertaken, the Monroe
County Legislature published a legal notice announcing that the review is underway and that the
municipalities in the district and the public have 30 days to submit requests for district
modification to the county legislative body (see affidavits of the 30-day review period and public
hearing announcements in Appendix B).
Staff from the Monroe County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board (AFPB) and the
Monroe County Planning Board (CPB) gathered information about agriculture in each district per
Section 303-a of Article 25AA of the NYS AML, discussed below. The report included two
requests to add land to the Southeastern District and three requests to remove land from the
Southeastern District (see Appendix C). The AFPB and the CPB met separately during
September 2007, to consider the proposed district boundary modifications and the factors
summarized in the report.
The Monroe County Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board and the Monroe County
Planning Board recommended modifying the Southeastern District as requested, continuing both
Districts and consolidating the Districts into the Eastern Agricultural District #6.

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Eastern Agricultural District #6
Monroe County, New York
2007 Agricultural District Review
3.1 Proposed District Boundary Modifications

The proposed district boundary modifications are based on landowner requests to be added to
or removed from the district. A list of requests to add parcels to and remove parcels from the
Southeastern District is included as Appendix C and summarized in Table 1; no requests for
modifications to the Northeastern Agricultural District were received. The breakdown of the
requests is as follows: one request to remove 37 parcels in Pittsford totaling 63 acres; one request
from a property owner in the Town of Rush to remove one parcel of 50.0 acres; one request to
add two parcels in Mendon totaling 110 acres; and one request to add one parcel in Rush totaling
57.71 acres.

The Southeastern Agricultural District and its proposed boundary modifications are shown on
Map 2. The requests to add land to the district amount to 168 acres; the requests to remove land
from the district amount to 113 acres. The modifications would result in a net increase of 55
acres to the Southeastern Agricultural District #4.

The way in which agricultural district parcels are compiled changed often over the past eight
years with new directives from the NYS DAM and as the municipalities, the county and the state
came to rely more heavily on computerized data and mapping. Upon the completion of the last
review in 1999, the Northeastern Agricultural District #3 was listed as 8,361 acres; recalculation
at the outset of this review indicated that 10,203 acres are under consideration for this review.

Upon the completion of the last review of in 1999, the Southeastern Agricultural District #4
was listed as 31,984 acres while the acreage under consideration for this review is 37,352. The
recalculated acreage includes the addition of 242 acres added since 1999 as part of the “303-b
annual addition process.” As a result of this review, the Southeastern Agricultural District will
grow by 55 acres for a total 37,407 acres (see Table 1)

Table 1. Proposed Eastern Agricultural District Inclusions and Exclusions

No. Parcels No. Acres
Municipality
Add Remove Add Remove
Mendon 2 0 110 0
Pittsford 0 37 0 63
Rush 1 1 57.71 50.0
TOTAL TO ADD OR
3 38 168 113
REMOVE:
2006 TOTAL ACRES: 37,352
2007 TOTAL ACRES: 37,407

The consolidated district, the Eastern Agricultural District #6, contains 47,610 acres with the
modifications to the Southeastern Agricultural District proposed here.

3.2 Consideration of Review Factors

Section 303-a of Article 25AA lists the factors to be considered in reviewing an agricultural
district. The following text represents the results of the consideration of these factors as they
relate to the review of the Northeastern and Southeastern Agricultural Districts.

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Eastern Agricultural District #6
Monroe County, New York
2007 Agricultural District Review
3.2.1 Agricultural and Farmland Protection Board Factors

1. Nature of Farming and Farm Resources within Districts

The districts will consist of predominantly agricultural land and other land not well suited for
residential and commercial development such as wetlands and flood plains. There will also be a
significant amount of woodland within the boundaries of the proposed districts. The agricultural
land within the proposed district contains the land holdings of several of Monroe County’s major
commercial farm operations. These farm operations provide a significant economic contribution
to the county’s economy. The farms also contribute to the diversity of employment opportunities
available in the county and provide a significant amount of land to the open space inventory.

2. Overall Status of Farming, the Farm Economy, and Farm Investment

Farm operations continue to be a significant land use within the districts; the Agricultural
District Review Profile is included as Appendix D. Since 1999, one dairy operation has closed,
one fresh market vegetable and fruit farm has closed and one Community Supported Agriculture
(CSA) vegetable operation has opened. The number and composition of the operations in other
enterprises, such as cash crops, orchards, horse, and fresh market has remained constant. The
distribution of farms over ranges of capital investment in farm operations has also remained
constant.

3. The Extent to which the Number of Farms and Farm Acres in Districts Further the
Purposes for which Districts were Originally Created

Well over 50 percent of the land in the districts is actively farmed. At a meeting with the
Monroe County Farm Bureau in April 2007, one-on-one visits and numerous telephone
conversations during March through June of 2007 with landowners and farmers within the
districts, both farmers and landowners reported that nuisance issues and the threat of non-
conforming uses are major concerns and that the impact of residential development was
instigating hardships on production practices, especially in terms of drainage and noise, odor and
dust complaints. Almost all farmers and landowners indicated that farm operations in the districts
need the continued support of the agricultural district; the Agricultural Districts Law helps in
managing complaints and providing clarity on policy issues and enforcement of laws, rules,
regulations and ordinances at both the town and county level.

4. The Extent to which the Districts have achieved Their Original Objectives

During the past eight years the density of new residential development within the districts
has continued at a moderate pace. Agricultural land continues to be subdivided and converted to
non-farm uses, but much of the farmland that remains within the district boundaries is owned
and/or leased by economically viable and competitive farm operations. Much of this remaining
farm land is expected to be used for agricultural purposes or for low-density residential
development, primarily along road frontages. In regards to agriculture value assessments, only
the Town of Henrietta reported significant conversions of two large agricultural parcels that
triggered rollbacks penalties of significant magnitude. No other towns reported rollbacks.

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