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SACRAMENTO -- Already
heavily urbanized, Santa Clara County
saw another 4,701 acres of land -- most
of it agricultural -- converted to urban
uses between 1998-2000, according to a
map released today by the California
Department of Conservation. The map is
designed to help local governments
evaluate land-use planning decisions.
Meanwhile, the pace
of urbanization slowed slightly in
Alameda County.
The Farmland Mapping
and Monitoring Program (FMMP), part of
DOC's Division of Land Resource
Protection, maps 44.1 million acres of
California's public and private land to
produce a major study every two years.
In Santa Clara
County, net totals of 2,300 acres of
farmland and 1,592 acres of grazing land
were reclassified as urban land by the
FMMP. During the previous mapping cycle,
2,180 acres of Santa Clara County
agricultural land were urbanized.
Additionally, 817
acres of "other" land -- -- neither
built-up nor used for agriculture, such
as wetlands, low-density "ranchettes" or
brush and timberlands unsuitable for
grazing -- were reclassified as urban in
the 1998-2000 cycle.
Looking ahead, 3,055
acres of agricultural land were
committed to non-agricultural use.
Typically, this is land earmarked for
development. In some cases the
development, such as sanitary sewer
installation, already may be underway.
In Alameda County, a
net total of 1,508 acres of agricultural
land were re-classified as urban. In the
last mapping cycle, 1,761 acres of
agricultural land were urbanized. An
additional 241 acres of "other" land
were urbanized from 1998-2000, while
3,958 acres of agricultural land were
committed to non-agricultural use.
Of the 835,225 acres
mapped in Santa Clara County, 433,233
acres were class ified as being in
agricultural use, 184,183 acres were
urban, 209,357 acres were "other" land
and 8,452 acres were water. In Alameda
County, 525,339 acres were mapped;
257,575 were agricultural, 141,532 were
urban, 73,704 were "other" land and
52,528 were water.
The maps have been
sent to planning officials in the two
counties and interested organizations
such as the county Farm Bureau, Local
Agency Formation Commission, planning
consultants and area resource
conservation districts have received
copies.
"We do this mapping
to help counties plan and prepare for
their expected growth in the coming
years," explained Department of
Conservation Director Darryl Young.
"This information is a tool that can
help local governments balance the needs
of a growing population with those of
the agricultural economy."
Agricultural land in
Santa Clara and Alameda counties will
continue to face development pressure in
the foreseeable future. The California
Department of Finance projects that
Santa Clara County's population will
grow from its current 1.7 million to
more than 2 million by 2020 while
Alameda County's population is projected
to grow from 1.45 million to nearly 1.7
million in that period.
According to the
California Department of Food and
Agriculture, Santa Clara County's
agricultural production was valued at
nearly $178 million in 1999, while
Alameda County's was valued at nearly
$40 million.
The latest statewide
study by the FMMP, Farmland Conversion
Report 1996-98, was released last fall.
About 70,000 acres were urbanized
throughout the state as the rate of
urbanization rose 25 percent from the
previous two-year survey period. More
than 43,000 acres of the new urban land,
an area about the size of the city of
Modesto, was developed on agricultural
land.
Through the
Department of Conservation, the state
offers several programs that provide
financial incentives to keep land in
agricultural use. The California
Farmland Conservancy Program makes
monies available to local governments,
land trusts or resource conservation
districts to purchase permanent
agricultural conservation easements from
willing landowners. These easements
prohibit future development. Farmland
Security Zone and Williamson Act
contracts provide potential tax breaks
to landowners who commit to keeping
their land in agricultural use for 20 or
10 years, respectively.
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