Important Agricultural Lands

Yes. District boundary amendments for IAL shall be processed by the LUC. Lands less than 15 acres in rural and urban districts or in agricultural districts but not delineated as IAL may petition the county for a boundary change.

Upon acceptance by the county for processing, any application for a special permit involving important agricultural lands shall be referred to the Department of Agriculture and the Office of Planning for review and comment.

Any rezoning or boundary change decision by the LUC or county shall be based upon a determination that:

• On balance, the public benefit from the proposed district boundary amendment or zone change outweighs the benefits of retaining the land for agricultural purposes;
• The proposed action will have no significant impact upon the viability of agricultural operations on adjacent agricultural lands.
• A farmer or landowner with qualifying lands may also petition the land use commission to remove the IAL designation if a sufficient supply of water is no longer available to allow profitable farming of the land due to governmental actions, acts of God, or other causes beyond the farmer's or landowner's reasonable control.