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Rappahannock Supervisors may soon be facing the county’s first formal request for an agriculture and forest district.
At the Board meeting last Thursday, Bob Dennis told the Supervisors that he and several neighboring land owners along Route 637 were thinking about applying for such designation on between 1000 and 1500 acres. He said, considerations were still in the formative stages but had been spurred by concern over the impact of development on farming and forestry operations.
Under state enabling legislation signed into law by Governor Mills Godwin on April 3, the Agriculture Districts Bill allows farmers to petition local governing bodies to form agricultural *nd forestal districts with a minimum size of 500 acres and a maximum of 3,500 acres.
Every land owner within a district must volunteer for inclusion but the districts do not have to be made up of contiguous properties. Districts may be formed for between four and eight years. During that time, member farmers gain protection from local ordinances that could restrict farming operations in the area. Nuisance ordinances, such as animal control laws or restrictions on where manure can be spread, could not be approved within an agricultural district if it were adverse to farming operations.
Powers of eminent domain are also restricted within agricultural districts. Condemnation powers of local, state and federal agencies would not be prohibited, but a local review, public hearing and recommendation by local government would first be required before a highway, powerline, sewer or water
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