FARMINGTON -- Two century-old Davis County farms, roughly 70 acres of open land, are a step closer to being protected from encroaching development.
Florence Parker Allen, owner of a 16-acre farm, and Lyle Johnston, owner of a 55-acre farm, received the unanimous recommendations of the five-member conservation district board to have their properties placed in an agricultural protection zone, said Davis County Planner Scott Hess.
The board serves in an advisory role to the Davis County Commission.
"They understand the benefit of this (property) to be protected as farmland," Hess said of the board members.
Allen's application to have her 16-acre farm near 5000 W. 1937 North in an unincorporated area of the county placed in the protection zone is being forwarded for review by the planning commission.
The meeting, scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday, will be held in Room 219 of the Memorial County Courthouse, 28 E. State St., Farmington.
Because Johnston's land is just off of 1800 North, within West Point city limits, his request will be heard by the city council at 7 p.m. April 17 at West Point City Hall, 3200 W. 300 North.
This is the first time in six years such requests have been made in Davis County, Hess said.
Because the county has not had an agricultural protection zone application filed since 2006, the Davis County Commission had to reconstitute its Agriculture Protection Board during a March meeting.
The applications received the recommendations for approval based on both farms being in compliance as active agricultural property, Hess said.
The agricultural protection zone will allow the properties to continue to be worked as farmland, without neighbors being able to shut them down through complaints about odor or noise, Hess said.
Allen, 85, said her property was originally her father's, and before that, her grandfather's farm, where strawberries, alfalfa, sugar beets and tomatoes were grown during the Depression.
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