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I’ <br />The cumulative negative; impacts of doelopmert that is incorsistent wnh the Councii'- rural are.i <br />policies may have a substantial imr:<ct on or constitute a suhstnnt;al dep.-^rtu rc from metropofit.Tn <br />transportation .md wastewater treatment system s plans Therefore, the Council m.iv requ:re <br />communities to modify comprehensive plan< that are inconsistent \*Tth the policies. <br />Some communities cannot co:nplv with a!l of the Council's p«>hcies for the airal area because thev <br />have existing development patterns that are inconsistent with the policy In the past, the CouncH <br />has found these plans to be inconsistent with regional pv^licies. -ut has not provided a procedure <br />for making exceptions to the policy where it mav be warranted. Cntena for Council aporoyal ot <br />inconsistent plans a provided in an apoendu to this docurrent. <br />Commercial Afiicultural Area <br />The commercial agricultural area includes thise lands certified by local governments as eligible for <br />agricultural preserves under the 1980 Metropolitan Agricultural Preseryes Act This approach <br />places the responsibility for defining ->;ricultural lands on local governments. With Council <br />protection policies for commercial agriculture focused only in areas where there are local <br />government plans and protectiorts, al and regional policies support one another. <br />The amount of land in'*’ided in the commercial agricultural area is large, covering about 600.000 <br />acres in 44>8^1990. This constitutes over half the farmland in the seven county area. <br />The geographic area defined as the commercial agricultural area is subject to frequent change <br />when lied to *he Agiicultural Preserves Act because land can go into and out of certification <br />when local governments decide to alter its status. Locai governments may replan and rezone <br />certified areas if a change in {x>iicy is desired, but this change must occur as a public process, ’^or <br />the purposes of this document, the commercial agricultural area is defined as the rrea certified as <br />of March 1 of each year. This date is the end of each Council reporting year required under the <br />Agricultural I'rcservcs Act. <br />Under the Agricultural ’reserves Act, a local government passes a resolution certifying land <br />eligible for protectioni and benefits and limiting housing density to one unit per 40 acres. The <br />certified area is then considered long-term agricultural land. The local comprehensive plan and <br />zoning ordinance must reflect this land use and zoning. Farmers owning land within the certified <br />area may then enter the program. Land in the program is referred to as covenanted land. The <br />Agriculture Preserves Act provides prott.^'tion for the farmer from urban assessments, property <br />taxes at development value and conflicting land uses in exchange for a legal commitment to <br />cont'nue fanning for at least eight years. <br />Within the commercial agricultural area, all land has been certified by local governments as <br />eligible for the agriculture preserves program. Howev'er. the Council recognizes two levels of <br />protection in the commercial agricultural area: primary and secondary protection areas. <br />Primary protection areas are lands covenanted as agricultural preserves. They will receive the <br />greatest protection possible am incompatible uses because the greatest level of commitment to <br />farming has been established.