Orange County:
“A new law regarding agritourism could cause some confusion
in Orange County. The law, commonly referred to as the Boneta Bill, protects
certain activities at agricultural operations from local regulation providing
those activities don’t have a substantial impact on the public welfare. Under
the new legislation, localities can’t subject agritourism activities, the sale
of agricultural and horticultural products or related items, the preparation of
foods that otherwise comply with state law and other customary activities to
special use permit requirements unless they have a substantial impact on
health, safety or public welfare.
Proponents of the bill, which grew out of legislation
developed by Thornburg delegate Bobby Orrick and Montross delegate Richard
Stuart, say it will increase consumer access to locally produced goods while
also giving farmers new markets and a more favorable regulatory climate. The
bill is the product of more than a year of discussion by a working group
assembled by the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and
Virginia Secretary of Agriculture and Forestry Todd Haymore. Virginia Farm
Bureau was one of several interest groups participating in discussions. The
working group was assembly following a 2013 failed attempt to amend the state’s
right-to-farm law.
The new legislation is named after Martha Boneta, a farmer
who in 2012 was accused by Fauquier County zoning officials with multiple
permitting violations and threatened with fines for activities on her farm,
including pumpkin carvings, yoga classes and a child’s birthday party.”
~Writes Gracie Hart Brooks of the Orange County Review
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