Agriculture Advisory Board Special Meeting

Meeting recap

What happened, drawn from the records published after the meeting. Minutes

The board voted unanimously to hold the hearing on 18 August. State law at G.S. 106-739 lets it hold hearings on public projects likely to affect agriculture, particularly where a project would condemn part of a farm enrolled in the voluntary agricultural districts. Several members said Enbridge's written answers about the pipeline's agricultural impacts read as deliberately vague.

It also approved sixteen complete applications and one partial application to the voluntary agricultural districts, 1,349.15 acres in all, out of eighteen submitted; one application and one partial did not meet the program guidelines. That vote was unanimous, as was approval of the June minutes.

Public comment ran from 6:10 pm at three minutes a speaker. One speaker argued that landowners can win jury trials in condemnation cases if they show the project affects a whole farm, and asked the board to recommend that Enbridge be required to apply for a special use permit. Another asked the board to weigh farmers rather than energy infrastructure or national security. A timber grower who had just joined the districts pointed to a Dominion Energy project in Rockingham and Caswell counties as a comparison.

How the votes went

Three unanimous votes: the June minutes, sixteen complete and one partial voluntary agricultural district application covering 1,349.15 acres, and holding the Enbridge public hearing on 18 August. Seven of ten members were present.

From the published minutes.

Who spoke

3 members of the public spoke.

1. John Alderman argued that landowners facing condemnation can obtain jury trials where they show the pipeline affects a whole farm, and asked the board to recommend that Enbridge be required to apply for a special use permit.
2. Stephanie Davis asked the board to advocate for Chatham County's farmers rather than weigh energy infrastructure or national security, and said the county should stay a place for small farms.
3. Bill Dannelly, a new voluntary agricultural district member with a 70-acre timber farm, pointed to a Dominion Energy project in Rockingham and Caswell counties as a comparison.

Comment opened at 6:10 pm with a three-minute limit and was confined to agricultural impacts. The minutes summarize three speakers by name.

Read from the records the government published after the meeting. Members of the public are private residents and are not named or indexed.