POLICIES ENCOURAGING CONSERVATION OF PRIME AGRICULTURAL
LANDS AND OPEN SPACE AREAS
- Proposals which
would conflict with the goals of maintaining the physical and economic
integrity of open space lands, agricultural lands, or agricultural preserve
areas in open space uses, as indicated on the city or county general
plan, shall be discouraged.
- Annexation and
development of existing vacant non-open space lands, and nonprime agricultural
land within an agency's sphere of influence is encouraged to occur prior
to development outside of an existing sphere of influence.
- A sphere of influence
revision or update for an agency providing urban services where the
revision includes prior agricultural land shall be discouraged. Development
shall be guided towards areas containing nonprime agricultural lands,
unless such action will promote disorderly, inefficient development
of the community or area.
- Loss of agricultural
lands should not be a primary issues for annexation where city and county
general plans both indicate that urban development is appropriate and
where there is consistency with the agency's sphere of influence. However,
the loss of any primer agricultural soils should be balanced against
other LAFCO policies and a LAFCO goal of conserving such lands.
|
