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Lewis County Conducting 8-Year Review and Ag
Inclusion Simultaneously; Informational Meeting to be Held October 18
Published: October 06, 2023
at 05:30 p.m.
By: Press Release from Lewis County Planning
Department
Lewis County Conducting 8-Year Review and Ag
Inclusion Simultaneously
LEWIS COUNTY, NY – NYS
Agriculture & Markets requires counties to conduct a review of their
Agricultural District every 8 years to determine whether the district
should be continued, terminated, or modified.
During this
8-year Review, land parcels may be ADDED or REMOVED. Counties
are also required to designate an annual 30-day period when landowners may
petition the county for the inclusion of viable agricultural lands in an
existing agricultural district. Lewis County has designated its annual
30-day inclusion period from November 15th to December 15th each year;
however, during the 2024 8-year Review, the annual 30-day Inclusion Period
will be simultaneously incorporated to coincide with the 8-year Review
process from October 1st to October 31st. Property can only be
removed from an Agricultural District during the 8-year Review process as
described above; the next Review will be in 2032.
Agricultural Districts
were established to help protect and promote a farmer’s opportunity to
operate a successful business. Many people owned property that was included
in an Agricultural District as part of a farm when Districts 1,2,3,4 and 5
were created between 1975 and 1978; subsequently, those districts were
consolidated into one district, District 6, in 2007. There are currently
about 6,200 parcels and 246,809 acres in Lewis County’s Agricultural
District 6. When a landowner subdivides a parcel of land that is in the
Agricultural District, all parcels remain in the district until they are
removed by their current owner during an 8-year Review. To request such
changes, a direct link to the Ag District 6 Review Worksheet is available: https://lewiscountyny.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/FINAL-Lewis-County-RA-113-Agricultural-District-Review-Worksheet.pdf.
For more detailed
information on Lewis County’s Agricultural District 8-Year Review process,
please visit https://lewiscountyny.gov/departments/planning-and-community-development/agriculture/. On this page,
if you scroll down, you will find a GIS Mapper that you can type in your
property address to determine the property’s Agricultural District status.
Being in a New York-Certified Agricultural District does not affect the
zoning of your non-farm property, although some towns have an “Agricultural
Zoning District”, those regulations are not relative to this process.
 Lastly, the County has scheduled an
in-person informational meeting for all landowners in Lewis County
interested in learning more about the potential inclusion or removal of
land from Agricultural District 6. This meeting will be held at 7 PM on
Wednesday, October 18, 2023 at the Lewis
County JCC Education Center, 7395 East Road, Lowville, NY to describe
the process and answer any questions that you may have.
Lewis County
residents are invited to Like and Follow the Lewis County Planning
Department’s Facebook page @planLC to receive timely updates on County
events, initiatives, and the work of the Lewis County Legislators.
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