La Plata County Planning Commissioners continued review of the agriculture part of an updated county comprehensive plan on May 7.
Planning Director Damian Peduto cited concerns from a couple of large landowners "that they want to be able to change with the times to be able to make a profit." They want to be able to subdivide land for family members who want to stay in farming, and they don't want restrictions that would affect their crop or livestock yields.
Ag is a small part of the county economy even though about two-thirds of county land is assessed as ag, the draft says. The background section on ag in the plan indicates that ag production costs were above revenues from 2005 through 2010 for the county's ranchers and farmers.
The stated goal is to "encourage the continuation of agriculture as an integral part of La Plata County," while recognizing ag producers' right to operate and decide how to operate. Under that are two objectives and assorted policies, including "right to farm" and promoting agricultural diversity.
Right to farm got a lot of discussion. Already in state statue, it protects farmers and ranchers from having a subdivision go in next to them and the new residents then file nuisance complaints about ag activities.
Planning commissioners debated a policy advising residents "that the generation of noise, smoke, odor, and dust is a natural consequence of normal agricultural practices..."
Commissioner Frank Lockwood, an attorney, said, "You have to prove it's operating negligently. A nuisance claim won't stick if they're operating normally." But he thinks the state right to farm law makes this policy unnecessary.
Commission chair Jim Tencza was okay with eliminating it, but he asked, what about a crop dusting plane. County attorney Adam Smith said he'd check on that. Tencza wanted staff to tweak this policy.
Peduto said, "Colorado statute covers this. We can reinforce that or eliminate this, and it's still covered."
Planning staffer Jason Meinnger said, "One of the things we noted in our last discussion (April 2) was not just protect existing ag but create opportunities for new ag. Right to farm only protects existing ag. We added new ag with those protections." That would protect someone, probably on a smaller parcel, who wants to take up small scale ag near other homes.
It opens the way for ag diversification, another focus of the ag section of the plan. "There's a lot of things producers can do besides selling their product wholesale," Meininger said. "I know someone who has a viable operation on about three acres. That's her income. It's not just 100- or 300-acre parcels."
One policy says the county "should promote the diversification of agricultural operations and explore ways to promote businesses directly related to the working farms and ranches."
There was a question of how directly related such activities would have to be. "The word 'directly' is another hurdle," Lockwood said. "I'd like it to be as flexible as possible."
Meininger countered, "Putting the word 'directly' in there was intentional. ... Can I put a mini storage in the middle of my hay field?"
Lockwood objected that it limits creativity. Commissioners split on whether to take the word out, so it stayed in.
Peduto said the ag objectives are fairly broad to allow for creativity.
That doesn't include marijuana. Meininger said he didn't include marijuana cultivation in the ag section. The state and county don't consider that as ag. "We could add that in the land use section," he said.
"I'm here to represent the face of the new farmer," said Linley Dixon, who sells produce at the Durango Farmers Market. "You can make a living off 3,000 square feet." She doesn't want county regulations to interfere with people being able to come see her growing site or to pick up CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) produce. In a CSA, people buy shares and get weekly boxes of produce through the growing season.
La Plata-Archuleta Cattlemen's Association president Wayne Semler said in a letter that the property rights of ag producers should be a top priority. Well-meaning suggestions from non-ag people, such as requiring more efficient irrigation, can have unintended consequences, so those decisions should be left to the producer, he said. Agriculture often becomes a way of life for the family, "however, when it is time to liquidate, there should not be restrictions that reduce the value of the property," Semler wrote.
In comments submitted after the previous ag meeting on Apri 2, planning commissioner Lucy Baizel raised a philosophical question of whether the goal is to protect agriculture itself, or the scenic open land that ag provides. If the latter, the burden shouldn't be just on ag landowners to do that, she said.
Tencza reiterated that the comp plan is an advisory document, although policies could become regulations in the County Land Use Code. The hope is to call the ag section good on June 4 and move on to the section on infrastructure.
Commissioner Tom Gorton commented, "The bottom line for me is all that has to happen in (land use) code revisions. Anything we do in this comp plan, my vote will be to word things to implement changes in the code. Otherwise it's a wasted effort. We need a vision of what we want, but a vision in the absence of action has little value."
Planning commissioners, assisted by county planning staff, are doing the updates to the county's 2001 Comprehensive Plan. Work is expected to continue into 2017. The comp plan meetings are the first Thursday each month.
Much of the comp plan work is done between meetings, with planning commissioners and residents submitting ideas by mid-month. Then county planning staffers make draft changes based on those submissions and comments from the previous meeting, for consideration at the next monthly meeting.
Comp plan comments and drafts are online at http://co.laplata.co.us/departments_and_elected_officials/planning/comprehensive_plan. There is a link on the site to submit comments, as well.
