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Santa Clara County Farmland

On April 4, Santa Clara County adopted new agricultural mitigation policies. Read more about this success here.

However, opponents to these new policies want to weaken them by proposing a narrow definition of “agricultural uses." Greenbelt Alliance believes that land currently supporting crops, orchards, and cattle or that has the potential to do so, even if the land has been left fallow, should be included under this definition.

Read Greenbelt Alliance’s letter (pdf) on this issue.

Santa Clara County's Local Area Formation Commission (LAFCO), which is in charge of approving land annexation requests from cities, proposed policies for mitigating the loss of farmland to development. This is an important opportunity to guide growth and preserve farmland in the South Bay.

Greenbelt Alliance has advocated that the following conditions be met in the mitigation policy LAFCO adopts:

• No less than 1:1 mitigation should occur. This means that for every acre of prime farmland converted to urban uses, another acre of a similar type must be permanently protected. Lands that have greater habitat value or are unique in other ways should be preserved at a higher ratio. 
  
  
• Cities such as Morgan Hill should be required to adopt ordinances to ensure that mitigation requirements are enforced at the time of development.  A mitigation plan must be submitted to LAFCO at the same time an Urban Service Area request is made.
  
  
• The mitigation agreement must be recorded against the property and run with the land, so that even if the land is sold the mitigation requirement remains.  The actual purchase of agricultural land or easements resulting from an Urban Service Area request must be completed before the next request is approved.

• Fallow agricultural lands must be included as part of the Definition of Prime Agricultural Lands. The Cortese-Knox Hertzberg Act definition of prime farmlands should be used instead of the LESA (Land Evaluation and Site Assessment) model, which has failed to protect farmland in Gilroy. 
  (The scoring criteria used in the LESA model provides landowners with a loophole; if they do not irrigate the land, they can get out of mitigating its loss. The focus should remain on the loss of an important resource – land for locally grown fresh produce – not on whether the property owner has watered recently.)

Unfortunately, these policies have met with vocal opposition from development interests.

What's At Stake

Santa Clara County was once known as "the Valley of Heart's Delight" for its fertile soils and flowering orchards. But much of Santa Clara County's farmland was lost long ago to sprawling development. To change how growth occurs, we need to make sure developing farmland is not convenient or free, and the true cost of greenfield development is apparent.

The timing is critical. Large development projects, like Coyote Valley, should not move forward until the appropriate mitigations are in place. Any development that occurs on the prime farmland of Coyote Valley should result in the permanent protection of farmland elsewhere in the county.

What You Can Do

• Attend LAFCO's public hearing in support of a broad definition of agricultural uses. A definition that is too narrow could unravel the integrity of these newly adopted policies.
  
  Wednesday, October 3, 1 p.m.
  Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors Chambers
  70 West Hedding Street, First Floor
  San Jose, CA
  
  
• Urge LAFCO to include a broad definition of agricultural uses. Comments should be sent to Neelima Palacherla at LAFCO by email. See Greenbelt Alliance's letter here (pdf).
  
  
• Call or write to the Commissioners:
  Contact info here
  
  
• View the new policies here. For more information, visit www.santaclara.lafco.ca.gov.

Campaign Update

August 2007
On October 3, the Local Agency Formation Commission will decide how broadly it defines agricultural uses. Join Greenbelt Alliance at this public hearing (information above) to advocate for a broad definition.

July 2007
LAFCO may release its decision about the definition of agricultural uses on August 1. If not, the decision will be postponed until October 2007.

June 2007
The Local Agency Formation Commission for Santa Clara County is the agency that oversees annexations. In April 2007, the Commission voted unanimously to adopt policies that would protect one acre of prime farmland for every acre lost to development. The policies are advisory only. The last step in this is defining “prime farmland.” Greenbelt Alliance is advocating for this definition to include land that has been left fallow or has a rural ranchette on a portion of the property.

4/5/07 Land Use Agency Adopts Farm Preservation Policies Gilroy Dispatch

2/15/07 LAFCO loosens policy Gilroy Dispatch

January 2007
Greenbelt Alliance and many other environmental groups and land trusts have been working with the County and developers to craft a Santa Clara County-wide agricultural mitigation policy to be administered by the Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO). At the LAFCO meeting in December, the Commission decided to continue the issue in order to conduct more research. A task force is assigned to bring information back to the Commission in February to allow a policy to be approved in April.