HONORING THE PAST, PROGRESSING TOWARDS THE FUTURE
Advocating For Civics Education & Preservation
of America‘s Agricultural & Rural Heritage
Advocating For Civics Education & Preservation
of America‘s Agricultural & Rural Heritage
Wherever you live in America your community is run by a local governing body of representatives-either appointed or elected into office as County Mayors, Mayors, Planning and Zoning Directors and Commissioners, Community Development Directors, Highway Superintendents, County Engineers, Trustees, Board Members, Administrators & many other positions. These representatives- at the local level- are the backbone of how things get done in your community. They are the ones responsible for upholding, maintaining, implementing, amending or changing the local zoning laws, ordinances and policies that shape not just your communities identity but also its future opportunities for growth, and ultimately its destiny.
Often, local zoning laws and ordinances are outdated for the times, or fall short of guaranteeing protections for a communities historic and environmental assets that are the defining brand of a rural Americas character and identity. Identifying, protecting and maintaining these assets are critical to preserving that which historically has made your community unique.
Today, all over America, municipalities are expanding their URBAN GROWTH BOUNDARIES (“UGB‘s“) out into “the country”-or otherwise identified as the rural areas of the County to accommodate growth that increases their tax base. Also seizing opportunity for profit are Developers who target these ‘unincorporated’ rural areas where they are less restricted by zoning laws or organized preservation organizations that serve as watchdogs for the protections for their unincorporated communities rustic and rural assets like important viewsheds, valued tree canopies, historic barns, cemeteries.
Historically, “rural America” was a place where agricultural commerce was once a common part of American life. The pandemic of 2020 showed us how not having a locally based agricultural pipeline for food hindered societies ability to function independent of the big box retail supply chain stores that provide food produced by the industrial agriculture industry -not the local farmer or rancher. This is a problem. And it does not have to be that way.
This is where citizens getting mobilized to action through knowledge of local laws can make ALL the difference in stopping piecemeal development that makes locally based sustainable communities impossible to achieve. Once a subdivision is approved it takes every ounce of prime usable tillable land out of inventory, it can NEVER be undone. We can’t make new land. Because of this, a new paradigm of thinking in how we build America. New methods for planning can include zone changes that require HOA subdivisions being built on historically rural farmland should be required to maintain agricultural ‘buffers’ built into the landscape to provide educational purposes in step with community goals for sustainability. These “buffers” the ARED calls “AOZ‘s” or “Agricultural Opportunity Zone‘S” , areas of fertile land used in green spaces and landscaping can include agricultural crops in practice by way of landscape design that includes “ edible landscapes “ and growing of specialized crops specifically intended to keep agrarian principals visible within our community borders. We believe AOZ’s can become the new standard for planning for new development and infrastructure that anchors a connection to the land for generations in perpetuity. We see this as an opportunity where developers could be of greater service to their country and community by using a broader vision for planning and development that fosters wealth building beyond gates and borders but influences better will to the communities for which they serve.
This is an initiative of reform we seek to move forward into the public for support.
