AB 863

Under current law, the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer

Protection (DATCP) administers the Farmland Preservation Program, which

contains some of the requirements that a farmer must meet to qualify for the

farmland preservation tax credit. Under current law, one requirement for qualifying

for the farmland preservation tax credit is that the farmland must either be in a

farmland preservation zoning district under a certified farmland preservation

zoning ordinance or be covered by a farmland preservation agreement executed by

DATCP.

Under current law, in order to rezone land out of a farmland preservation

zoning district, a political subdivision must find that the land is better suited for a

use not allowed in a farmland preservation zoning district, that the rezoning is

substantially consistent with the certified county farmland preservation plan, and

that the rezoning will not substantially impair the agricultural use of surrounding

parcels that are zoned for agricultural use. Also under current law, a political

subdivision with a certified farmland preservation ordinance may not rezone land

out of a farmland preservation zoning district unless the person who requested the

rezoning pays a conversion fee equal to the number of acres rezoned multiplied by

three times the per acre value of the highest value of cropland in the city, village, or

town in which the land is located, as determined by the Department of Revenue for

the purposes of use value assessment.

This bill eliminates the requirement that a person who requests that land be

rezoned out of a farmland preservation district pay a conversion fee.