A task force charged with sorting out the county
’s Williamson Act policy made progress last week, figuring out
how to apply the law in the future, but its discussions showed once
again the difficulties in bringing the hundreds of parcels
currently out of compliance into line.
A task force charged with sorting out the county’s Williamson Act policy made progress last week, figuring out how to apply the law in the future, but its discussions showed once again the difficulties in bringing the hundreds of parcels currently out of compliance into line.
“I think we’ve made significant headway toward criteria for new contracts,” said Greg Van Wassenhove, agriculture commissioner of Santa Clara County. “There were some positive suggestions that appear to have a lot of support.”
But that support – for defining agriculture by land use rather than income and new reporting requirements to the county planning department and tax assessor – is limited to new contracts.
Task force members warned that applying such stringent criteria to existing contracts will lead to an exodus from the act and a loss of open space.
Rex Lindsay, representing property owners on Mt. Hamilton, said most of the owners of 250,000 acres on arid Mt. Hamilton can’t meet the income requirements the county has proposed for landowners holding Williamson contracts. Under a de facto policy being used by the planning department, applicants must show an annual income of $10,000, or $2,000 for cattle operations.
“Asking the land to do what the land can not do makes no sense,” Lindsay said. “Unless we change the climate and the soil, that’s not going to happen.”
The next Williamson Act policy stakeholder meeting is Wednesday, March 23, 2 to 4pm at the Sheriff’s Auditorium, first floor, 55 W. Younger Ave., San Jose
