In order to maintain its current level of local agriculture, the Town of Bethlehem has drafted an agricultural and farmland protection plan.
Town officials say they now want to hear what residents think about the proposal.
On Wednesday, Aug. 5, the plan will be presented at 7 p.m. at Bethlehem Town Hall, 445 Delaware Ave., Delmar.
Senior Planner Rob Leslie said the public hearing on the draft would bring the town one step closer to adopting a farmland protection plan. He said the goal is to find complementary land uses for existing farmers in Bethlehem.
After this meeting, we have an advisory committee scheduled for Aug. 17, and we’ll bring the comments back to the committee from this meeting, Leslie said.
The Agricultural and Farmland Study Committee is made up of 10 people involved with farming or agricultural products and others with town interests, according to Leslie. The members include Lynn Dente, Nancy Neff, Tom Gallagher, Chuck Preska, Paul Kleinke, Tim Stanton, Planning Board Chairman George Leveille, Bob Verstandig Jr., Stuart Lyman and Giles Wagoner.
In February of 2008, Bethlehem was awarded a grant from the state’s Department of Agriculture and Markets to create an agricultural and farmland protection plan in order to work with those in the agricultural industry. Leslie said the plan is also intended to establish varying strategies to enhance and manage the viability of agriculture and farmland areas.
The draft being presented defines land `protection` as the `preservation, conservation, management and improvement of lands which are part of viable farming operations, for the purpose of encouraging such lands to remain in agricultural production.`
The presentation includes a variety of statistics and information from 2007-08 that was gathered from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Albany County, Albany County Farm Service Agency, Town of Bethlehem Assessor’s Office, and the New York State Office of Real Property Service.
According to the draft report, Bethlehem’s agriculture and farming industry includes 63 operating farms with just over 5,900 acres of land, out of which 33 are rented farms with about 2,800 acres of land. The area produces mostly corn, hay, and contains mainly pastureland and has 4,000 acres that receive an agricultural assessment from Bethlehem.
Sixty-eight percent of all agriculture and farmland is located in the Ravena-Coeymans School District.
The report also reveals that 77 percent of all Bethlehem agriculture and farmland is located in three zoning districts ` 23 percent in Residential A, 30 percent in Rural and 24 percent is in Rural Light Industrial.
Leslie said the town has conducted landowner interviews with 11 farmers and owners of farmland and that the draft reports several recurring themes from the interviews.
The various themes listed in the draft report include education, poor soils, an increasing suburban nature and a lack of respect among farmers, non-farmers and Town Hall, as well as questions about the future of farming in Bethlehem.
The draft also cites a 2002 agricultural census that reports 92 percent of the town’s farms sold less than $50,000 in agricultural products. It continues, stating that 25 percent of farms are between 1 and 49 acres and 75 percent are between 50 and 999 acres.
However, only 46 percent of those interviewed in the report claim farming as `their primary occupation.`
The report being presented to residents lays out five main goals: foster communication between farmers and the non-farming community to encourage; encourage flexible town policies and regulations to be supportive of agriculture; assist and support in resolving adverse farming issues causing adverse impacts on agriculture and farmland; support economic opportunities for the agricultural industry; and to provide incentives for agricultural landowners to continue agricultural activities.
The last goal will consist of finding complementary land uses for farmers, according to Leslie.
`It really goes back to uses,` he said. `Obviously it’s important to keep farming and land use in town but we want to encourage things like maybe a bed and breakfast and agri-tourism if we can, too.`
Leslie said that after the plan is reviewed by Albany County, the Town Board could have a final draft to vote on an implement by `early fall.`
Supervisor Jack Cunningham said it is important to get as much community feedback as the protection plan moves forward.
`We’re going to take whatever comments we get from the public and give them to the advisory committee to try to incorporate into the proposed plan,` he said. `Our farmers are very important to us.`
The draft report can be found at the town’s Web site:
www.townofbethlehem.org/pages/AdvisoryComs/advAgAndFarmland.asp
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