Agriculture should be promoted and living in the RSA

One of the things that upsets me to no end is our county touts being the largest Agriculture county in the state. But with that said, in our unincorporated areas of Eastern Palm Beach County they are doing everything in their power to quash any Ag related endeavors on smaller acreages. They do this by denying AG exemptions, citing codes not meant for a lean-to, harassing homeowners by fear, and overall trying to white wash the area into compliance. Unless, you have a bonafide AG classification, code just keeps coming after the smaller homesteads.

When you head West on 80 towards Lake O, you see thousands upon thousands of acres of crop, sugar cane, etc. We do have the largest areas still in the county for these mega corporations. But to tout this as a positive thing, while backhandedly, trying to stop it in other areas is disingenuous at best.

We have some very unique rural areas of the county, (where I live) in that every home is ZONED - AR. Zoning and code are two different things, but, go hand in hand. We are zoned 'Agriculture Residential'. It is also in our Palm Beach County Comprehensive Plan 'guaranteeing' our right to livestock.

If you didn't know, you (I) live in the Exurban Tier, in the RURAL SERVICE AREA (RSA) Rural Residential (RR-2.5) in the UnIncorporated area of Palm Beach County. (Exurban includes The Acreage area).  The county commissioners and their staff must follow the rules set forth in our Comprehensive Plan. Written by the county and staff. You can do a google search for the whole pdf file. Its quite long. Look for the 'Future Land Use Element'. (FLUE).

The county can not surreptitiously change something in our FLUE ( Comp Plan), without much consideration from the people that live in the area, the staff, and the Commissioners tasked with making sure this Plan is abided. Changes go thru months of discussion, and changes. And then the BCC must vote on them.

In the FLUE, I've highlighted in yellow pertinent paragraphs. The most important of them is #4.

GUARANTEE THE KEEPING OF LIVESTOCK.

The other item of importance is the keeping of RURAL character of the area.

Keep in mind that what the county says, and what they do, can be two different things. And they have in the past, change the Comp Plan to suit their needs. (ie. Minto and Westlake prior to them incorporating).

It's upsetting and unnerving for them to use ULDC or state statutes and back door slap homeowners wrists that want to live their lives with livestock. My previous post depicts CE usurping the code to their interpretation, citing a homeowner to get rid of temporary housing, metal structures that are movable,  and cross fences on her property. She is just one of many... Why is that? Because code likes things simple, and in line. This is easily managed in urban areas, where all homes are the same. All homes are zero lot line. All homes essentially have no land. But, there is nothing easy about our area. The homes sit on different areas of the land. Some have ponds. Some have wetlands. Cyprus trees that can't be cut. Or they have septic and water in various locations that make it difficult for the CEO to state - ' this must be here' and you can't 'do this here' ... When it comes to livestock, bottom line you do what you need to do to keep them!

The Acreage, Jupiter Farms, Loxahatchee, and all the other surrounding rural developments are truly the last areas in our county to allow for this unique style of living. Anything EAST of 441, sadly, has succumbed to being in the URBAN SERVICE AREA and those rules are different. Even if you live on 2 acres...

Remember you (WE) live in the RURAL SERVICE AREA. And this is a designation we don't ever want to lose. It separates us based on our lack of amenities. Want more amenities and you might find yourself one day not able to keep livestock any longer.

As for the AG classification - this is something you must get from the property appraiser. This office is not a part of the county staff, or fall under their management. The property appraiser office is state maintained and managed. Getting an AG classification is different then our zoning of AR. I have another blog post about that.

http://jojosfarmlife.blogspot.com/2012/07/what-is-bonafide-ag.html


You can easily find your AR designation on the property appraiser site.