To get the community’s response to proposed Voluntary Agriculture Districts, Interim County Extension Director Paige Burns is hosting five information sessions in the coming weeks.

A voluntary agriculture district is an officially sanctioned program allowing farmers in a community to band together to form a larger, cohesive unit to aid in preserving property and land.

An ad-hoc committee of county residents is in the process of creating a voluntary agriculture district ordinance to submit to the county planning board and board of commissioners, but before they do that, they want the community’s feedback.

The upcoming information sessions have been scheduled for Monday at Mt. Pleasant Community Center in Ellerbe at 7 p.m., Nov. 30 at the Mangum Community Center in Mangum at 7 p.m., Dec. 7 at Derby Community Building in Derby at 7 p.m., Dec. 14 at Richmond County Agriculture Services Center in Rockingham at 7 p.m. and Dec. 21 at the Cordova Fire Department in Cordova at 7 p.m.

The information sessions are free and open to the public.

If the county adopts a voluntary agriculture district ordinance, people who move into an area designated as an agricultural district, which encompasses a one-mile buffer area, will be made fully aware that they are living in a “working farm area.”

Also, if a district was formed, the party who moved into the area cannot object to work being done in that area, which could include spreading hog manure, etc.

Signs would also be posted in the districts letting folks know they were now in an agricultural district.

In a previous article in the Daily Journal, Burns said this sort of district helps protect property owners while also preserving the state’s agricultural heritage. It also gives farm owners protection from nuisance lawsuits or potential condemnation by the state if the state wanted to route a bypass through the land.

Burns told county commissioners about her plans to hold public meetings during their Nov. 2 monthly meeting. Following the public meetings, the ad hoc committee will present their draft of a voluntary agricultural district ordinance to the planning and zoning board of adjustment before taking it to the county commissioners for approval.

For more information about the information sessions or voluntary agricultural districts, contact Burns at 997-8255.

n Staff writers Eren Tataragasi and Bryan Stewart can be reached at (910)997-3111 or at etataragasi@yourdailyjournal.com or bstewart@yourdailyjournal.com.