Update on HB 268 & 1173

General Assembly:

“The Senate Agriculture Committee on Thursday approved HB 268, the companion to SB 51, which has passed the House and Senate and is on its way to the governor for signing. These are the bills which expand various agritourism activities and additional value-added sale, preparation and processing opportunities. The Committee also endorsed the House version of the omnibus stormwater management bill (HB 1173). The bill is identical to the Senate version, SB 423, which passed the House unanimously. Both bills contain an emergency clause, meaning they take effect upon approval by the governor. Recall that the bills allow non-MS4 localities to opt out of establishing and running a local stormwater management program and to have DEQ manage it.”

~ David Blount, TJPDC Legislative Liaison

Agriculture and Natural Resources Legislation

General Assembly:

“Concerning stormwater, the House provides $38 million from the Virginia Public Building Authority (VPBA) for the stormwater grant program contingent upon the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) providing a grant to improve statewide digital orthography files (state mapping). The Senate shifts the $20.0 million in VPBA bond funding from the second to the first year and amends language to more clearly focus local stormwater grants on implementation of local best management practice capital projects.

          

The Senate also includes just over $31.4 million for agriculture best practices and $2 million for maintenance for SWCD district dams. It includes language requiring local governments imposing a stormwater utility fee to provide an annual report to DEQ on the programs being funding by the fee and the nutrient and sediment reductions expected to be accomplished by the programs. The Senate also directs a review of stormwater management program fee structure.

The Senate provides $2 million for the Dam Safety Program to address repairs needed for certain flood control dams maintained by Soil and Water Conservation Districts. The House reduces dam funding by over $1 million.

A House budget amendment provides $300,000 each year to support the eradication of hydrilla on Lake Anne, Lake Gaston and Smith Mountain Lake.”

~ David Blount, TJPDC Legislative Liaison

The Clinch River Valley Initiative

Southwest Virginia:

“The Clinch River Valley Initiative (CRVI) is a pioneering effort to build local economies in the coalfields of Southwest Virginia, focusing on the Clinch River Valley—one of the most biodiverse river systems in North America. Working at a watershed scale with several local partners, this collaborative grassroots effort has developed significant momentum with applicability for communities in Appalachia and beyond.

Utilizing a consensus-based approach, project partners are articulating and prioritizing goals for connecting downtown revitalization, outdoor recreation, water quality, entrepreneurship and environmental education along the Clinch River, and have developed an action plan to realize the prioritized goals (which may be found on the CRVI website). Strategies are being identified to connect downtown revitalization with outdoor recreation along the Clinch River Valley. Utilizing a regional planning approach, the project connects to cultural and natural heritage efforts including Heartwood: Southwest Virginia’s Artisan Gateway, ‘Round the Mountain, Crooked Road, and other artisan networks and local efforts. Finally, the effort builds upon the unique cultural and ecological assets of the Clinch River to distinguish and create new possibilities in the communities along the Clinch as distinctive cultural and ecological areas, particularly around environmental education and entrepreneurship opportunities.”

~ Christine Gyovai, Clinch River Valley Initiative

Click here to learn more

Berryville Nixes Chickens In Town

Town of Berryville:

“Following a rare tie vote Tuesday night, the Town Council will not continue work on an ordinance that would have allowed Berryville residents to keep from four to eight chickens in backyard coops. After a report by council member Mary Daniel on the wording of a proposed ordinance to regulate egg-laying hens, Mayor Wilson Kirby asked for a vote on whether to continue ‘moving forward’ with the ordinance.

Kirby said he had talked to many residents, and all were uniformly against allowing their neighbors to keep chickens. Under the ordinance, the number of chickens would have been regulated by the size of residential lots. Town Manager Keith Dalton said it appeared that only a few lots could have more than the minimum of four hens and the largest flock could only be eight. Roosters would have been forbidden to limit noise.

Kirby said he was concerned about the expected $1,000 expense to advertise the new ordinance and have it vetted by town attorney Robert Mitchell. ‘I haven’t met one person who is in favor of chickens in Berryville,’ Kirby said. ‘Everybody is against it.’ Several of the newer subdivisions in town, governed by homeowners associations, bar chickens by covenants.”

~ Writes Val Van Meter of The Winchester Star

Click here to learn more

Agriculture Committee and Stormwater Legislation

General Assembly:

“This past week, the House approved HB 1173 on a 93 to one vote. The Senate Agriculture Committee followed suit on Thursday afternoon by unanimously reporting a nearly identical measure, SB 423, which awaits approval on the Senate floor. The bills, among other things, allow non-MS4 localities to opt out of having to establish a local stormwater program and have the Department of Environmental Quality establish and implement a program.”

~Writes David Blount, TJPDC Legislative Liaison

House Agriculture Committee: Breweries and Ag Zones

General Assembly:

“A key focus during the second half of the session will be SB 430, which has been assigned to House Agriculture Committee. The bill takes away local land use authority by allowing breweries in agricultural zones to operate as a by-right use. The bill utilizes language that exists in current Code provisions related to farm wineries, allowing yet-to-be defined “usual and customary” activities at such breweries unless the activity causes substantial impact on the health, safety or welfare of the public. It limits application of local zoning ordinances to farm breweries in a manner similar to farm wineries, but goes further by limiting local restrictions on parking and access.  minimum parking, road access or road upgrade requirements for these new breweries if they are on land zoned agricultural, unless there is a substantial impact.”

~Writes David Blount, TJPDC Legislative Liaison

Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit

Virginia Farm Bureau:

Registration now open - Virginia Urban Agriculture Summit

NOURISHING OUR CITIES’ FUTURE’

WHERE: LYNCHBURG, VIRGINIA

WHEN: TUESDAY APRIL 15 & WEDNESDAY APRIL 16

INCLUDES a screening of Dan Susman’s documentary film ‘Growing Cities’ – A Film about urban farming in America on the evening of Monday April, 14, 2014. For questions or further assistance, including sponsorship opportunities, contact: Christie Young – Christie.young@vafb.com or Spencer Neale – spencer.neale@vafb.com

For more information including agenda, registration and lodging please go here

What agriculture use means for farmers and Loudoun

Loudoun County:

“In November 2012 Ben Renshaw walked onto a piece of land in Purcellville and knew immediately he had walked onto his next vineyard… He immediately knew he wanted the land because of his more than a decade of experience growing grapes. It was a feeling he got, that could only come from having walked countless vineyards and having seen rows of grapes destroyed by frost.

When he discusses the 150-acre plot of land he bought, Renshaw uses words like domed and airy. He explains the space the way you would expect a sommelier at a fine dining establishment to describe a fine Malbec or Cab Franc. How he built the business is anything but elegant though: 70-hour work weeks doing what he calls ‘young-man's work’ and using the few natural advantages he had in front of him.

The business just started to turn a profit this past year and he took a week-long vacation, his first in a decade.”

~Writes Ben Hancock of the Loudoun Times

Click here to learn more