{"id":60947,"date":"2025-11-19T22:09:06","date_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:09:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60947\/"},"modified":"2025-11-19T22:09:06","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T22:09:06","slug":"santa-clara-county-takes-a-step-back-on-agricultural-rezoning-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/60947\/","title":{"rendered":"Santa Clara County takes a step back on agricultural rezoning plan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Amid overwhelming backlash from equine businesses, wineries and small farmers, Santa Clara County officials are pumping the brakes on proposed changes to the type of development and operations allowed on agricultural land in unincorporated parts of the county.<\/p>\n

Once known as the \u201cValley of the Heart\u2019s Delight\u201d due to its flourishing orchards, Santa Clara County has lost more than 21,000 acres of farmland over the last three decades \u2014 and an additional 28,000 acres are at risk, according to county officials.<\/p>\n

In an effort to support and preserve agriculture, the county is reexamining zoning rules in rural and agricultural\u00a0districts. But the process has caused alarm among farmers, ranchers, equestrians and vintners who say the proposed changes put their livelihoods at risk<\/a> as the modifications might force them to shut down altogether.<\/p>\n

After months of apprehension by these business, it appears their concerns have been heard. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a proposal from Supervisor Sylvia Arenas that would essentially send the policy back to the drawing board and ensure the county incorporates \u201cextensive, widespread and consistent community concerns.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arenas, whose district includes the southern part of the county that encompasses much of the area\u2019s agricultural lands, said she wanted to ensure they got the policy \u201cright for everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe ordinance here has a lot of implications for our local businesses and their livelihoods so I want to make sure that it isn\u2019t just good for one particular industry, that it is for all of the industries included in the agricultural community,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Arenas\u2019 proposal asks county officials to create an agricultural task force and ensure that farm stands can operate without needing a special \u2014 and costly \u2014 permit. She\u2019s also proposing to create a path for businesses that are currently out of compliance to be grandfathered in and eventually legalized.<\/p>\n

The supervisor also wants to reduce some of the thresholds outlined in the draft policy to support small farmers. County officials previously wanted to require no less than 24 acres of land to be able to raise livestock \u2014 Arenas wants to shrink that down to one acre.<\/p>\n

Laurie Holderman of Dawnridge Ranch in San Martin told the board on Tuesday that requiring a minimum of 24 acres is \u201cunrealistic in our county where land is scarce and extremely expensive.\u201d She currently operates her goat farm on 2.5 acres.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoats do not require large acreage,\u201d Holderman said. \u201cZoning regulations should support sustainable farming practices rather than dictate exactly how farmers manage their animals.\u201d<\/p>\n

Arenas is also asking the county to include wineries within the agricultural umbrella.<\/p>\n

Kim Engelhardt, the president of the Wineries of Santa Clara Valley and owner of Lion Ranch Vineyard & Winery in San Martin, told the board that the last few months \u201chave been the most stressful\u201d in her 15 years in the industry as the proposal could \u201cput wineries on a path toward closure. Some of the suggested changes could have saddled wineries with costly new permit and event fees.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThe uncertainty surrounding the future of our businesses is overwhelming,\u201d she said. \u201cWhat has been proposed by the planning department is neither reasonable nor collaborative. These proposals were developed without consultation from the people who will be the most affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Anxious equine businesses also are expected to get some reprieve from Arenas\u2019s proposal, which asks county officials to look at horses separate of the changes being made for agricultural businesses. The county initiative sparked outrage from equestrians as it would no longer have classified\u00a0horses as livestock or issued permits for stables in \u201cag exclusive\u201d zones.<\/p>\n

Rachael Parakh, the director of public relations for the Santa Clara County Horsemen\u2019s Association, thanked Arenas for \u201cresetting\u201d the process.<\/p>\n

\u201cFamilies and the whole community count on this,\u201d she said of horses. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be relegated to history. We believe that it\u2019s part of our living community now and we look to celebrate the equine and agriculture community.\u201d<\/p>\n

County officials are expected to report back to the board next spring with more information.<\/p>\n

Board of Supervisors President Otto Lee praised Arenas\u2019 proposal and the county\u2019s objective of preserving its limited farmlands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith agriculture having been changed so dramatically in the past decades to being industrialized by conglomerates and large companies, it is certainly very difficult if not impossible for smaller farms to survive these days especially right here in Santa Clara County,\u201d he said. \u201cBefore Santa Clara County became Silicon Valley, this was the Valley of Heart\u2019s Delight and we want to keep it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Amid overwhelming backlash from equine businesses, wineries and small farmers, Santa Clara County officials are pumping the brakes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":60948,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[184,387,7,181,88,90,89,198,200],"class_list":{"0":"post-60947","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-jose","8":"tag-bay-area","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-latest-headlines","12":"tag-san-jose","13":"tag-san-jose-headlines","14":"tag-san-jose-news","15":"tag-santa-clara-county","16":"tag-south-bay"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60947","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60947"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60947\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60948"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60947"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60947"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60947"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}