As Yuba County supervisors work out a vision for the next 20 years, they continue to struggle to find a balance between preservation of farmland and economic growth.

Supervisors agreed agricultural land needs to be preserved, but requiring mitigation by developers may not be the answer if and when farmland is built on.

"Last I heard, they're not building any new farmland," Supervisor Mary Jane Greigo said Tuesday during a supervisors meeting. "We need to just tell developers where they can and can't build. We need to have our policies straight."

The discussion of where Yuba County's growth is headed and where farmland preservation comes into play was examined as part of the county's general plan update.

Supervisors feared that if there was a requirement that for every acre of agricultural land destroyed, another acre of land in the county needs to be set aside — like other counties have adopted — developers might look outside of Yuba County for business.

Supervisor Don Schrader said if mitigation measures are put in place, it would be harder for the county to recruit jobs and business to the area.

"That would make it impossible to develop here," Schrader said of possible required mitigation measures. "We need to look at it carefully. We don't want to shut down all development."

In the last 12 years, roughly 10,000 acres of the county's agricultural land has been converted to housing, industry or used for setback levee construction, according to Kevin Mallen, community services and development agency director.

Half of that, Mallen said, was considered prime agricultural land. Land that is considered "prime" has the best combination of physical and chemical characteristics to produce crops.

Yuba County has 228,000 acres of ag land. About 41,000 acres are considered prime.

Supervisors acknowledged the county continues to grow with the addition of houses in the areas of East Linda, Plumas Lake, Olivehurst and, eventually, along Highway 65.

Supervisor Hal Stocker noted farmland is cheaper to maintain than subdivisions because there is no roads or sewer systems to maintain. Therefore, he said, growth should be contained to areas south of the Yuba River and farmland to the north should be protected.

"We are a farm county," Stocker said. "We do well as a farm county."

The 1996 general plan, Mallen said, the last time the county's future growth plan was evaluated, set up guidelines and policies for growth within community boundaries that are already in existence. That plan said officials should preserve all agricultural land in Reclamation District 10 north of Marysville.

Mallen questioned whether the policies should be similar or change to allow for new development.

"So far we've stuck to the plan," Mallen said. "There's a lot of room for in-fill growth in East Linda, Olivehurst, Plumas Lake and along Highway 65."

Farmer Stephen Danna, whose Danna and Danna, Inc. has farming, packing and shipping interests, including an operation within Plumas Lake, said supervisors should also be mindful of the proximity of development and farm operations.

Danna said there's been some instances when residents from nearby Plumas Lake complain about the noise and dust kicked up when work is done on the farm.

"Either you have homes and business or farms. They don't meld well," he said. "Farming takes up a large area and it makes a lot of noise."

Contact Appeal-Democrat re-porter Andrea Koskey at 749-4709 or akoskey@appealdemocrat.com