By Jason Emerson
Editor
After more than one year of work, the Cazenovia Town Board last week approved a 144-page local law that amends the town zoning laws to further support agriculture, farm operations and farmland protection. The changes were based mainly on a state review of the town zoning code and its official recommendations for amending the law to make it more in-line with state law, however, the town board also included changes with the intent to make the town more “farm friendly” in its zoning.
The law was approved unanimously at the board’s July 10 regular monthly meeting.
According to Town Attorney John Langey only a few major changes were made to the town zoning law through this new legislation. Those changes include:
- Revise the definitions for “farm,” “farming” and “farm operations,” specifically to reduce the minimum acreage of the definition of a farm to 7 acres from the current definition of 15 acres. This change brings the town code more in-line with the state Agriculture and Markets law.
- Create definitions for farm-related uses such as “manure storage facility,” “winery,” “nursery,” “brewery,” “distillery” and “farm stand” as a way to provide “clarity and guidance” for farms and residents in the town, as well as for the various municipal boards reviewing applications by establishments for such uses.
- Include a new explanation of the potential exemption from the zoning law of certain restrictions on farm operations.
- Modify the criteria for inclusion in the Agriculture Overlay District zoning categorization. The existing law requires farms to have at least 15 contiguous acres and have at least 50 percent USDA prime soils. The new law requires only 7 acres, and 50 percent prime soils or at least a total of 20 acres prime soils. “This broadens the definition, making it easier for a farm to fall into the AO district and be entitled to the protections and permitted uses,” Councilor Kristi Andersen, the board’s point person in the law revision, has previously said.
This latest law is part of a line of legislation designed to support and protect agriculture in the town of Cazenovia. The town board approved its Farmland Protection Plan in 2014 to protect, encourage and enhance agricultural development and preservation in the town.
In 2016, the board proposed another local law to amend the town zoning laws to further support agriculture, farm operations and farmland protection. While the board held a public hearing on the 2016 law, it never took a vote. They were advised to send the law back to the state Department of Agriculture and Markets for comments, after which detailed negotiations with them took place in the late fall. Based on those the law was revised — with the town board accepting many of the state recommendations but also rejecting some — and the result was the law approved last Monday.
To read the full text of the new local law, visit the town website at townofcazenovia.org and click the “laws, proposed” link.
