The final language in a new Contra Costa County Local Agency Formation Commission (LAFCO) agricultural and open space preservation policy is expected to be adopted on Dec. 14, 2016.
Click here to download and view the staff report and policy. The final version reflects BIA|Bay Area’s successful efforts to thwart a sustained 18-month push from anti-housing forces to mandate unreasonable open space and farmland mitigation ratios. Instead, applicants seeking annexations or other boundary changes will have the flexibility to propose their own mitigations when agricultural and open space lands are proposed to be converted to other uses. Environmental organizations sought to override local jurisdictions’ land-use authority and set mandatory minimum 3-to-1 preservation ratios for prime agricultural land, require 300-foot buffer zones and cede open space protection levels to state and federal regulators. For questions, contact BIA’s Lisa Vorderbrueggen at
lvorderbrueggen@biabayarea.org or 925-348-1956.
