A. 
The purpose of this chapter is to implement the agricultural land conservation policies contained in the City of Woodland 2035 General Plan with a program designed to permanently protect agricultural land located in Yolo County.
B. 
The City Council of the City of Woodland finds that this chapter is necessary for the following reasons: California is losing farmland at a rapid rate; Yolo County farmland is of exceptional productive quality; loss of agricultural land is consistently a significant impact under CEQA in development projects; the Woodland 2035 General Plan has policies to preserve farmland; the city is surrounded by farmland; the continuation of agricultural operations preserves the landscape and environmental resources; loss of farmland to development is irreparable, and agriculture is an important component of the City's economy; and losing agricultural land will have a cumulatively negative effect on the economy of the City.
(Ord. 1642 § 2, 2019)
For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply:
"Agricultural land" or "farmland"
means those land areas of the City and/or unincorporated Yolo County, regardless of current General Plan and zoning designation, that are either currently used for agricultural purposes or that are substantially undeveloped and capable of agricultural production. Land that is determined to be incapable of supporting the production of agricultural commodities that would yield a reasonable economic return is excluded from this definition and does not require agricultural mitigation under this section. Any such determination shall be made by the City Council on a permit (or other) application upon review of evidence at the time of permit (or other) application.
"Agricultural mitigation land"
means agricultural land encumbered by a farmland deed restriction, a farmland conservation easement, or such other farmland conservation mechanism acceptable to the City.
"Agricultural use"
means use of land for the purpose of producing food, fiber, or livestock for commercial purposes.
"Farmland conservation easement"
means the granting of an easement over agricultural land for the purpose of restricting its use to agricultural uses. The interest granted pursuant to a farmland conservation easement is an interest in land that is less than fee simple.
"Prime farmland"
means prime farmland shall generally mean farmland that meets the criteria applied by the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program of the California Department of Conservation, Division of Land Resource Protection. Farmland shall also be considered prime farmland for purposes of this section if it meets the definition of "prime agricultural land" in Government Code Section 51201. Additionally, land that is not currently in production shall also be considered prime farmland under this section if, in the reasonable judgment of the City Council, it would be considered prime farmland under either of the foregoing definitions if it was in active production.
"Qualifying entity"
means a nonprofit public benefit 501C.3. corporation or other entity eligible to hold a conservation easement for mitigation purposes under California law, including, but not limited to, Civil Code Section 815, operating in Yolo County for the purpose of conserving and protecting land in its natural, rural, or agricultural condition. The City will consider the following criteria when considering a proposed agricultural conservation entity for these purposes, and when monitoring the performance of qualifying entities over time:
1. 
Whether the proposed entity is a non-profit organization or other entity eligible to hold a conservation easement for mitigation purposes under Civil Code Section 815.3 that is either based locally, is Statewide, or is a regional branch of a national non-profit organization whose principal purpose is holding and administering agricultural conservation easements for the purposes of conserving and maintaining lands in agricultural production;
2. 
Whether the entity has a long-term proven and established record for holding and administering easements for the purposes of conserving and maintaining lands in agricultural production;
3. 
Whether the entity has a history of holding and administering easements in Yolo County for the foregoing purposes, including annual compliance monitoring;
4. 
Whether the entity has adopted the Land Trust Alliance's "Standards and Practices" and is operating in compliance with those Standards and Practices; and
5. 
Any other information that the City finds relevant under the circumstances. A local public agency may be an easement co-holder if that agency was the lead agency during the environmental review process or if otherwise authorized by the Board of Supervisors to co-hold a conservation easement. The City also favors that applicants transfer easement rights directly or indirectly (i.e., through a transaction involving a third party) to the qualifying entity in accordance with that entity's procedures. The City retains the discretion to determine whether the proposed agricultural conservation entity identified by the applicant has met the criteria delineated above.
"Urban development"
means development consisting of residential, industrial, commercial, and/or institutional uses.
(Ord. 1642 § 2, 2019)
A. 
Mitigation for the loss of agricultural land shall be required whenever the City Council approves a General Plan amendment and/or rezone for urban development on agricultural land or farmland as defined herein. For every acre converted to urban development, one acre of mitigation shall be required (1:1 ratio), except as otherwise required in this chapter.
B. 
Agricultural mitigation land shall be of same quality of land or higher than the land being converted. Determination of quality shall be based on the most current classification from the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program of the California Department of Conservation, Division of Land Resource Protection and take into consideration any utilization of the property that may have changed the farmland quality. The City may require assessment such as Revised Storie Index Rating or Use of Land Evaluation and Site Assessment (LESA) be conducted to determine the quality of converted and/or agricultural mitigation land to ensure equivalent quality of the agricultural mitigation land.
C. 
The following uses and activities shall be exempt from the requirements of this chapter:
1. 
Affordable housing projects, where all of the units are affordable to extremely low, very low, or low income households, as defined in Chapter 15.16, Affordable Housing, of this code; and
2. 
Public facilities such as parks, greenbelts, schools, cultural institutions, and other public agency facilities and infrastructure that do not generate revenue. The applicability of this exemption to public facilities and infrastructure that do not generate revenue shall be evaluated by the City Council on a case-by-case basis. The City Council may partly or entirely deny the exemption if it determines the additional cost of complying with this program does not jeopardize project feasibility and no other circumstances warrant application of the exemption.
(Ord. 1642 § 2, 2019)
Agricultural mitigation required by this chapter shall be implemented as follows:
A. 
Location, Generally. Agricultural mitigation lands shall be located wholly within Yolo County.
B. 
Adjustment Factors. The following adjustment factors shall be applied, where relevant, to modify the base ratio:
1. 
Mitigation of agricultural land or farmland occurring on lands beyond four miles from the urban limit line of the City of Woodland shall be mitigated at a ratio of two acres of conservation for every acre converted (2:1 ratio).
2. 
Mitigation of agricultural land or farmland consisting of an agricultural easement on land that is determined to be of lesser quality than the land being converted, but not lower than level of Statewide Importance, shall require a mitigation ratio of two acres of conservation for every acre converted (2:1 ratio).
3. 
Mitigation of agricultural land or farmland that meets both factors above shall require a mitigation of three acres of conservation for every acre converted (3:1 ratio).
4. 
For projects that are required under CEQA to mitigate for habitat loss associated with conversion of agricultural land and that mitigate for such impact by providing a habitat conservation easement on agricultural land in a priority habitat conservation area and in a manner consistent with the Yolo Habitat Conservation Plan, shall receive one acre of agricultural mitigation credit for every one acre of habitat conservation easement that meets this criteria. To receive the credit, the habitat conservation easement lands must first be approved by the Yolo Habitat Conservancy Board. The City shall then make a determination whether the easement property meets the definition of agricultural land as defined in Section 15.33.020 of this chapter.
(Ord. 1642 § 2, 2019)
A. 
If the area to be converted is 20 acres or more in size, subject to the exception in subsection C of this section, compliance with this chapter shall consist of granting, in perpetuity by evidence of recording into the public record, a farmland conservation easement to a qualifying entity with the City of Woodland as a third party beneficiary, for the quantity and quality of land required herein, together with the provision of funds sufficient to compensate for all administrative costs incurred by the qualifying entity and the City as well as funds needed to establish an endowment to provide for monitoring, enforcement, and all other services necessary to ensure that the conservation purposes of the easement are maintained in perpetuity.
B. 
If the area to be converted is less than 20 acres in size, compliance with this chapter shall consist of payment of an in-lieu fee established by the City to purchase a farmland conservation easement consistent with the provisions of this section; and the payment of fees in an amount established by the City to compensate for all administrative costs incurred by the City inclusive of endowment funds for the purposes set forth in subsection A of this section. The in-lieu fee, paid to the City, shall be used for agricultural mitigation purposes only (i.e., purchases of conservation easements and related transaction and administrative costs).
C. 
If the City or a qualifying entity establishes a local farmland mitigation bank and sufficient credits are available at a total cost not exceeding the in lieu fee (and all related transactional and similar costs), projects of 20 acres or less shall satisfy their farmland mitigation requirement by purchasing credits from the mitigation bank in a quantity sufficient to discharge the mitigation obligations of the project under this section. Projects converting more than 20 acres of farmland may also purchase credits to discharge their farmland mitigation requirement, in lieu of providing an easement. A farmland mitigation bank must be approved by the City Council for local (i.e., within Yolo County) mitigation needs based upon a determination that it satisfies all of the farmland mitigation requirements of this section. Landowners and project applicants that conserve more farmland than necessary to satisfy their mitigation obligations may seek approval of a farmland mitigation bank through an application process to be developed by the City.
D. 
Agricultural mitigation shall be completed as a condition of approval prior to the acceptance of a final parcel or subdivision map, or prior to the issuance of any building permit for development projects that do not involve a map.
(Ord. 1642 § 2, 2019)