Agricultural Zoning Notification Requirements
Near a Farm? If you’re planning to buy or sell a home in a rural area or near farmland, a new notification requirement may apply to you.
In an effort to promote the primary land-use of agriculture and farming in the Agricultural Reserve, the County Council passed Bill number 12-07, Real Property – Agricultural Zones - Disclosure effective January 14, 2008 (pdf). The purpose of Bill 12-07 is to inform and educate potential residents in agriculturally zoned areas that agriculture is the preferred land-use and farming operations are permitted at all times. Residents and other occupants of property within or near land in agricultural zones should be prepared to accept the effects of usual and customary agricultural operations, facilities, and practices, including noise, odors, dust, smoke, insects, operation of machinery, storage and disposal of manure, unusual hours of operation, and other agricultural activities.
Bill 12-07 states, “if any real property is located in, adjoins, or confronts an area zoned agriculture…the seller must disclose to each prospective buyer, before the buyer signs a contract for the sale of the property, that existing County and State law is intended to discourage owners of real property adjacent to agriculture-zoned land from filing certain lawsuits against an owner or operator of an agricultural use in those areas.”
Use the map below to find out if you need to notify a potential buyer. Enter an address for visual confirmation of a property’s location or enter a property tax account number to find out its exact location.
Results:
| Tax Acct # | Within, adjacent to or confronting Agricultural Zones? |
What this web page does:
- If you type an address, the map will locate the property and zoom to its location. You will be able to see whether the property is affected by the Agricultural Zone Notification requirements. However, errors may occur while searching for an address. For more accurate results, try using a tax account number.
- If you input a tax account number, that number will be checked against a complete list of tax account numbers in the county to see which requirements apply. The map will zoom to the property’s location, a table will appear, and notification results will appear below the map. Tax account numbers are updated periodically (last updated February 1, 2008; the next update is August 1, 2008) and are a true determination of whether or not a property is located within an agricultural zone.
