About 16 people gathered in the town of Batavia last night for a meeting to discuss possibly formulating a farmland protection plan for the town, according to the Daily News.
The town has about 19,000 acres of agricultural land, which accounts for roughly 60 percent of total land in the town.
Roger Muehlig writes:
The goal is to create a land use policy on how to keep agricultural land in production and protect it from commercial and residential development.
In other news, the city of Batavia has hired a new code enforcement officer. Apparently, Ronald Panek has been working since last week. Panek, 41, is from Wyoming.
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If you want to preserve
If you want to preserve farmland, protect farming as a profitable venture. Establishing land use quotas is silly if no one intends to till it. ...And maintaining land for the sole purpose, dumping manure on it is not "agricultural use." That's waste disposal AKA air, soil and water pollution. Legislating fair use should be the last alternative. Yeah-yeah, I know, zoning laws, imminent domain, easements. I'm not naive, just idealistic.