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Senate committee hears proposal to remove dormant county farmland advisory boards
Summary
Senator Wilson presented House Bill 371 to remove the statutory requirement that each county maintain a farmland preservation advisory board, arguing the boards have been inactive and their duties duplicate county planning boards; Department of Agriculture staff supported the change and asked for clarity to preserve farmland assessment protections.
Senator Wilson told the committee House Bill 371 aims to streamline the Delaware Agricultural Lands Preservation Act by removing the statutory requirement for county farmland preservation advisory boards because the boards "have not existed since at least 2015" and their approval authority for new agricultural districts duplicates county planning and zoning functions. The senator said regulatory updates are infrequent and the change would reduce administrative delay.
The Department of Agriculture said it supports the bill and introduced Milton Melendez as the department's new chief of planning. Representatives from the Delaware Farm Bureau asked the committee to preserve explicit exemptions for farmland assessed under the Farmland Assessment Act and to clarify that agricultural buildings and farmland valuation methodologies are unchanged by this bill.
Senators asked brief questions and took no immediate votes; the bill was left in committee pending any written comments and further clarifying language.
