Not so easy

The San Joaquin County Board of Supervisors can expect backlash on its plan approved this week to impose fees on developers who want to build on county farmland.

Both the San Joaquin Farm Bureau and the Building Industry of the Delta have already voiced protests. The law requires that for projects larger than 40 acres, developers must protect one acre of farmland for each acre they develop by purchasing easements for the land.

For projects smaller than 40 acres, developers will be required to pay a fee of $8,700 per acre developed to support the purchase of conservation easements by a third party, such as the Central Valley Farmland Trust.

The supervisors passed the law 4-1 on Tuesday, but they are giving county counsel until Nov. 14 to iron out the details, when the ratio and fee concepts will likely be approved.

Some critics say the law stops short of what is needed to protect county farmland.

Tom Orvis, the farm bureau’s program director, says the law lets developers off too easily by giving them the option of paying a simple fee for smaller projects. He says the law will not be effective in preserving agricultural land, which is the farm bureau’s No. 1 priority.

“We don’t want the fee, period,” he said. “Essentially, (developers) will say, here’s a fee, here’s the money, and write a check. We want them to preserve an acre of land for every one they pave — we’d even prefer two acres. Once (farmland) is gone, you can’t replace it.”

The law is stricter on projects larger than 40 acres, but Orvis says that few developments in the county will fall into that category.

“If you look at the county and what’s been done in the past 10 years, 75 percent have been under 20 acres,” Orvis said.

But the Building Industry Association of the Delta, an industry organization representing builders in San Joaquin and Calaveras counties, says the law is too strict on developers.

“The issue that causes us the most anxiety is the requirement that (developers) have to go out and find a piece of dirt somewhere else in the county and get the guy who owns the dirt to sell you an easement on his dirt before you can build anything on your dirt,” said John Beckman, BIA’s director of governmental affairs.

Beckman also says that the fee structure of $8,700 per acre for developments of less than 40 acres is too high. He points out that the cities of Lathrop, Manteca, Ripon and Escalon all have mitigation fees in place that range from $2,200 to $3,000.

Finding farm owners who want to sell easements is not easy, Beckman said. “There aren’t a lot of people out there who want to sell easements. They’re forcing us to go buy something that is currently not for sale.”

In the end, Beckman says, these costs will be passed on to homebuyers as the cost of new homes increases to cover these additional expenses.

The farm bureau agrees that acquiring easements isn’t always easy but points to the law’s $8,700 per-acre price point as a large part of the problem. Orvis says it can be difficult to find farmers willing to give up land rights for this price.

Furthermore, the farm bureau says that 20 percent of the $8,700 fee covers administrative and contingency costs. Only the remaining amount — less than $7,000 per acre — can be used to acquire easements.

District 5 Supervisor Leroy Ornellas, a third-generation dairy farmer, voted in favor of the ordinance on the basis that the board would return to the issue in two weeks. He says he is uncomfortable with several aspects of the law, including the $8,700 figure.

“Where did that number come from” he said. “My concern is that it’s based on a formula that the government has come up with, that it’s not a number that the free market has come up with, but an artificial number.”

Ornellas is also concerned that the law won’t be effective without the cooperation of surrounding cities.

“In the past 10 years, there have only been 215 acres of county land that have been developed,” he said. “So you look at that and you have to ask yourself, what does this plan hope to accomplish”

The county law does not apply to land within city limits — which is where most farmland is lost to builders.

“I’m still very troubled by it,” Ornellas said. “We need to really give some thought to whether this will be beneficial for the county and for the area.”

Central Valley Farmland Trust has had varying levels of success in finding farm owners to participate in the easement program. Bill Martin, the trust’s executive director, said that while his organization has about 10,000 acres of easements in Merced County, it has only one easement of 927 acres in San Joaquin County.