For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AGRICULTURAL CONSERVATION EASEMENTS. A conveyance by a written instrument in which, subject to permitted uses, the owner relinquishes to the public in perpetuity his or her development rights and makes a covenant running with the land not to undertake development.
AGRICULTURAL USE. The production of plants and animals useful to humans, including forages and sod crops: grains, feed crops and field crops: dairy and dairy products; poultry and poultry products; livestock, including breeding and grazing of cattle, swine, captive cervidae, and similar animals; berries; herbs; flowers; seeds; grasses; nursery stock; fruits; vegetables; Christmas trees; and other similar uses and activities. AGRICULTURAL USE includes use in a federal acreage set-aside program or a federal conservation reserve program. AGRICULTURAL USE does not include the management and harvesting of a woodlot.
DEVELOPMENT. An activity that materially alters or affects the existing conditions or use of any land.
DEVELOPMENT RIGHTS. An interest in land that includes the right to construct a building or structure, to improve land for development, to divide a parcel for development or to extract minerals incidental to a permitted use or as is set forth in an instrument recorded pursuant to this chapter.
FARMLAND. One or more of the following:
(1) A farm of 40 acres or more in one ownership, with 51% or more of the land area devoted to an agricultural use;
(2) A farm of five acres or more in one ownership, but less than 40 acres, with 51% or more of the land area devoted to an agricultural use, that has produced a gross annual income from agriculture of $200 per year or more per acre of cleared and tillable land. A farm described in this division (2) enrolled in a federal acreage set-aside program or a federal conservation reserve program is considered to have produced a gross annual income from agriculture of $200 per year or more per acre of cleared and tillable land;
(3) A farm designated by the Department of Agriculture as a specialty farm in one ownership that has produced a gross annual income from an agricultural use of $2,000 or more. Specialty farms include, but are not limited to, greenhouses: equine breeding and grazing; the breeding and grazing of cervidae, pheasants and other game animals; bees and bee products; mushrooms; aquaculture; and other similar uses and activities; and/or
(4) Parcels of land in one ownership that are not contiguous, but which constitute an integral part of a farming operation being conducted on land otherwise qualifying as farmland may be included in an application.
OWNER. A person having a freehold estate in land coupled with possession and enjoyment. If land is subject to a land contract, OWNER means the vendee in agreement with the vendor.
PERMITTED USE. Any use expressly authorized within an agricultural conservation easement that is consistent with the farming operation. Storage, retail or wholesale marketing, or processing of agricultural products is a permitted use in a farming operation if more than 50% of the stored, processed or merchandised products are produced by the farm operator for at least three of the immediately preceding five years.
PERSON. Includes an individual, corporation, limited liability company, business trust, estate, trust, partnership or association, or two or more persons having a joint or common interest in land.
(Prior Code, Ch. XXXI, § 2) (Ord. passed 8-16-2004)