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Council hears proposal to allow agricultural protection on 5-acre parcels; members ask for more analysis
Summary
Councilman DeCarver introduced a request asking Syracuse City to consider allowing Agricultural Protection Area status on parcels of 5 acres rather than the city’s standard 10-acre threshold.
Councilman DeCarver introduced a request asking Syracuse City to consider allowing Agricultural Protection Area (APA) status on parcels of 5 acres rather than the current 10-acre threshold used locally and at the county level.
Brad Mills, a Davis County Farm Bureau representative and local rancher, described reasons local farmers favor a 5-acre threshold so smaller operations can qualify for protections. Mills told the council that smaller properties in Syracuse include working small farms and hobby farms that could benefit from the formal protections afforded by an APA.
Council members asked staff and the Farm Bureau for specifics. Staff and councilors noted that the APA confers several protections to actively farmed property — legal notice requirements to prospective buyers about adjacent agricultural operations, limited nuisance claims for typical farming activities (noise, smells, pesticides), and restrictions on eminent domain and rezoning without consent. Council discussion clarified that APA status is not the same as Greenbelt (a property-tax classification). Greenbelt provides a tax valuation treatment for agricultural land; APA is a legal protection against certain complaints and actions.
Staff said some parcels on the council’s map are already developed or in process and that the raw parcel counts in the staff memo overstate how many active farming parcels would actually qualify. A county planning official had told a council member that the county is actively discussing reverting its own APA threshold back to 10 acres because smaller APAs have created development and legal complications in neighboring parcels. Council members asked for time to review corrected parcel mapping and to better understand how APAs have affected neighboring property values and development rights in Davis County.
Ending: The council did not take a final vote. Members directed staff to gather additional information—revised parcel counts, examples of how 5-acre APAs have been applied elsewhere, and the county’s current stance—and to return the matter to a future agenda for more detailed consideration.
