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Carol Harding
From: Myrna Folsom [myrna_f2000@yahoo.com]
Sent: Monday, April 03, 2006 9:43 AM
To: Carol Harding
Cc: Monica Mika
Subject: future impacts of current decisions
April 3, 2006
To the Weld Board of County Commissioners:
Dear Commissioners:
Lest we forget: There are items in Weld County Code ordinance 2002-6 section 22-1-
50D3a that you might want to keep in mind before approving the urbanization of
agricultural lands:
a. Agriculture: The importance of agriculture in Weld County is recognized, and
supporting agriculture is an important objective of the County. Agricultural Goal 1
states: "Conserve agricultural land for agricultural purposes which foster the economic
health and continuance of agriculture." This goal is achievable by instituting
agricultural zoning on most of the undeveloped lands in the county. Such zoning
provides areas for agriculture and related activities by continuing a minimum parcel
size of 80 acres in the A (Agricultural) Zone District.
1) Conversion of agricultural lands to urban uses will be considered, but only in the
areas in or around existing municipalities or in other areas where adequate facilities
such as roads, sanitary sewer, water, etcetera, and adequate services such as fire
protection, police, schools, etcetera, are currently available or reasonably obtainable.
Compatibility of land uses will also be considered.
2) Conversion of agricultural lands to non-urban uses will be accommodated only in
areas that can support such development with adequate facilities and services. This
allows low density and low intensity development to occur where appropriate. It also
encourages techniques and incentives such as clustering, restrictive easements,
building envelopes and setbacks to be used to both minimize the impacts on
surrounding properties, as well as conserve lands for agricultural production.
3) Supporting agriculture will include protecting agricultural uses by recognizing the
"right to farm" and making significant efforts to inform residents of the County about
agricultural operations. Furthermore, water and water rights are addressed in this
section, reinforcing the importance of water and irrigation facilities in the agricultural
economy. It is important to remember that state law governs and administers all water
rights and water rules.
1.Agricultural Goal 1: Conserving lands for agricultural purposes. The right to farm is not related to the
economic and environmental viability to farm. Agriculture will disappear from around urbanized areas
because of unavoidable conflicts and the increase in value of agricultural lands.
2.The statemtn that converting agricultural land to urban use only where adequate services such as fire
protection and schools are currently available or reasonably obtainable is simplistic. Deciding whether
such services are reasonably obtainable is subjective depending on the point of view and agenda of
the those making that judgment. The fact of the matter is that there is a considerable time lag in making
these services available.In addition, it is dependant on the will of the people to vote funding for
providing these services. If the need for such services precedes their being available, then you have
unreasonably decided they were reasonably obtainable. It is also unreasonable to attempt to rationalize
that those
�are problems of the school and fire protection districts, not the commissioners. However, in
gavagmt -d`"�_,/�" 6- /q-zo-as 2006-1616
4/3/2006
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the case of your approval of urban scale developments in southwest Weld, some future
commissioners may have to deal with the political fall out of a problem that your decisions may have
created.
John Folsom
Talk is cheap. Use Yahoo! Messenger to make PC-to-Phone calls. Great rates starting at_1i/min.
4/3/2006
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