Board denies proposed Title 25 zoning changes, asks stakeholder group to continue work

The San Benito County Board of Supervisors voted 5-0 Tuesday to deny proposed ordinance changes to Title 25 that would have increased minimum parcel sizes for subdivisions in several agricultural zoning categories and to direct staff to bring back a public committee process tied to the county’s ag-element stakeholder group.

Supporters of the denial said the measure needed more study and more input from farmers, lenders and the county’s Ag Element stakeholder planning group; opponents said the change would sharply reduce land values, harm family farms and shrink borrowing power for agricultural operations.

The board’s action follows a lengthy presentation by county planning staff and multiple hours of public comment from landowners, farming groups, realtors and lenders. Planning staff presented a draft that would have raised the minimum acreage “for subdivision only” in certain categories: agricultural productive (AP) from 5 to 40 acres, agricultural rangeland (AR) from 40 to 160 acres, and rural transitional (RT) from 2.5 to 5 acres, with additional clarifying language intended to show how the changes would apply to “each new lot or…