Burke County, NC Right to Farm: Farm Nuisance Protection (2026)

Chapter 4 creates the county's voluntary agricultural district (VAD) program to increase identity and pride in agriculture and increase protection from non-farm development and negative impacts on properly managed farms (§ 4-2). A district must contain a minimum of ten contiguous acres of qualified farmland or one or more qualified farms the seven-member Agricultural Advisory Board designates (§ 4-5). Qualifying farmland must be enrolled in the present-use-value tax program, meet Natural Resources Conservation Service soil or five-year active-use tests, and be subject to a conservation agreement barring non-farm use for at least ten years (§ 4-6).

00 fee; the board must act within 90 days, and a denial can be appealed in writing to the Board of Commissioners within 30 days, whose decision is final (§ 4-7). Before any public agency may formally initiate condemnation of qualifying farmland in a district, it must request the advisory board hold a public meeting, and the board has 30 days to submit written findings; the Board of Commissioners must not permit condemnation to proceed while that review is pending (§ 4-9). The county posts signage, files maps with the register of deeds and other agencies, and posts a notice warning real estate purchasers that farming and forestry activities, including pesticide spraying, manure spreading, and machinery operation, may occur in a district any time during the day or night (§ 4-10). VAD landowners are also exempt from mandatory water and sewer connection or assessment (§ 4-12).