The Agribusiness Center at Mount Olive College is conducting a survey in Richmond County to create a Working Lands Protection Plan for the county as part of the work of the Base Realignment and Closure Regional Task Force in connection with development at Fort Bragg.

The county will eventually be asked to adopt an ordinance to create a Voluntary Agricultural District to encourage the preservation of farmland.

Plans are being developed for the 11 counties involved in BRAC studies. Seven of them have already adopted ordinances.

The ordinance would create an Agricultural Advisory Board in the county to review and approve applications for qualifying land as farmland and establish an agricultural district. Richmond County already has established agricultural land in its zoning ordinance.

BRAC recently received a $400,000 grant from the N.C. Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund to create the plans. Richmond County’s matching share will be in the form of in-kind contributions from county staff.

Commissioners Monday night approved the effort and ask that county residents cooperate with the survey. They also approved participation by members of the county staff.

The confidential survey has three parts. One targets agricultural business, another agricultural produces and the third, non-farm residents.

Each survey ends by asking the person being interviewed: “Please tell us what your ideas are for retaining and improving agriculture in Richmond County.”

Richmond County is 11th statewide in the importance of agriculture. Overall in North Carolina, agriculture is a $68 billion business annually.

The object of the survey is to get an idea of the state of agriculture in Richmond County and the challenges and opportunities it faces.

Benefits to the county include bringing agriculture to the table with land use planning. Richmond County already has a land use zoning ordinance.

However, having a BRAC VAD plan in effect will qualify the county for any farm-related preservation funds.

And, participating farms would be eligible to receive a higher percentage of cost-share funds under the Agriculture Cost Share Program.

The VAD promoted by the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services is “a program for landowners that recognizes the importance of agriculture in North Carolina and fosters the growth, development and sustainability of family farms.”

The purpose is to protect farmland from non-farm development.

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Commissioners approved a resolution from the N.C. Department of Transportation to re-designate funds set for extending U.S. 1 south of the U.S. 74 Bypass to the S. C. line to be used for extending I-73 from near N.C. 38 south of Hamlet to the S. C. line in that location.

If the I-73 project south of Hamlet becomes eligible for State Highway Trust Funds, the project might possibly be funded sooner than currently anticipated with the change in designation, NCDOT said.

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In a report to commissioners, Rick Sago, Richmond County director of development, said the Richmond County Revolving Loan Fund for businesses currently has $915,186.25 to lend.

Created with a Community Development Block Grant in 1986 without the use of local tax funds, the fund since then has loaned some $3 million in 26 different loans. Repayments go back into the fund to be loaned again.

The loans have enabled businesses to create 69 jobs, of which 53 remain since 2000.

Sago said Andy Hillenburg at the Rockingham Raceway was “thrilled” with the Polar Bear 150 held Jan. 1. He said it was the third of Hillenburg’s races, and the sun was shining for all three.

He said SRB Holdings’ building at the industrial park may be completed by May or June. There may be up to 150 jobs created. Applications for work will be handled by the N.C. Employment Security Commission in Rockingham.

The owner of the distribution center has not been announced.

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Other items on the agenda considered by the county, or information presented to the county, include:

n Commissioners approved the purchase by the East Rockingham Fire Department of land and a building adjoining its property on Airport Road in the amount of $56,000. The department will pay for the property.

n Time Warner Cable has announced a new rate schedule as of Feb. 1. Basic cable will be $12 and standard cable, $54.95.

n During December 2008, 2.1 tons of litter was picked up on Richmond County roadsides.

n There will not be a mid-month meeting in January of the Richmond County Board of Commissioners.

n Commissioner Pam Dillman was appointed to serve at the county’s legislative liaison to the N.C. Association of County Commissioners. She will keep commissioners informed on activities of the NCACC. Her first meeting will be Jan. 15 in Raleigh for the NCACC’s Legislative Goals Conference.

n Commissioners approved giving Progress Energy an easement to build a new transmission line from its electric power generating plants south of Hamlet along the southern right-of-way for Industrial Drive in the Richmond County Industrial Park. The county will receive $75,500 for the easement. The new line will be from the plants to Cumberland County. Progress Energy is planning a $700 million expansion of its facility in the county.

n Commissioners also approved an easement for Progress Energy to install a new underground electric power line to serve the new Richmond County Judicial Center at Lee and Franklin streets, Rockingham.

n Commissioners were informed that the current completion date for the judicial center is Dec. 17, without any further change orders.

Recent change orders amounting to $111,154 were approved. The original completion date was Nov. 5.

There is $238,846 remaining of the original $350,000 contingency budget for the center’s construction.

n Commission Chairman Kenneth Robinette was appointed to represent the county on the Richmond County Development Team for 2009.

n Following a public hearing, commissioners selected the name “Trinity Way” for a road on U.S. 1 parallel to the driveway of the Hospice facility.

n A property issue presented by Bishop Thomas L. Wooten Jr. of the House of Prayer Feed My People Ministry was tabled until the February meeting. Commissioners wanted time to visit the property in question before granting or not granting a refund for land purchased from the county which may not be unusable.

n As of Monday, the county had collected some $4 million on property taxes for 2008. County Manager Jim Haynes said the 96 percent collection rate in the county was one of the top rates in the state. The amount of expected revenue from property taxes for the coming year is based on that rate by state law. Interest is now accumulating on any unpaid taxes.

n Dillman requested a report on the drug fund managed by the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office. Haynes said the money in that fund is required by state law to be used only for law enforcement purposes. He said purchases by the office for some equipment does save the county tax money. The fund is maintained from confiscation procedures by the office and not with tax money, he said.

n B. K. Jones, Richmond County director of community services, will meet with the architect and engineers involved in the new judicial center concerning any extra costs for supervision on construction.

Commissioner Thad Ussery was concerned because the county was handed a $38,000 bill for such supervision following renovations of the human services complex years ago.