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SAN JOAQUIN FARM BUREAU FEDERATION MEETING TODAY'S CHALLENGES/PLANNING FOR TOMORROW September 29,2016 Attn:Megan Aguirre _ RECEIVED San Joaquin County Community Development Department SP a 0 1016 Development Services Division 1810 E. Hazleton Avenue San Joaquin County Stockton, CA 95205 Community Development Re: PA-1600026(UP) Dear Ms. Aguirre: The San Joaquin Farm Bureau Federation is a private,not for profit agricultural advocacy organization that is dedicated to the protection of the agricultural resources within San Joaquin County. We have concerns regarding this application in regards to the current uses of the property and the proposed uses being considered with this-application. Currently, there is an existing religious assembly building, which we understand is permitted on the property.However, it appears that this site is regularly used for truck parking (see attached). No new projects should be permitted until the applicants are brought into compliance with existing land use regulations. Secondly,this is a very large expansion that will bring five times the current permitted attendees to the property. This is a much more intense use of the land and we question whether the services, especially the roads are equipped to accommodate such a large expansion. This expansion would bring five times as much traffic to the rural area of the county where large equipment is regularly used. The roads are generally narrow and not built to accommodate such heavy traffic in the agricultural zone. Additionally, we are concerned that this application includes constructing a hall for"educational programs". Currently,the California Department of Pesticide Regulation is drafting new regulations that will include buffer zones and new notice requirements if a grower uses any crop protection tools around schools and day care centers. Should the use of this current property be expanded to include educational programs as proposed,this will have a significant impact on the ability of the neighboring growers. The consequence of having non-agricultural projects permitted in agricultural areas is that it adds a new level of scrutiny to the commercial agricultural operations that make up the tax base of this county and thus the agricultural operations become more and more tightly regulated. As that occurs, it becomes too burdensome to bother farming around the incompatible uses which leads to sprawl and discontiguous growth patterns in the county. 3290 NORTH AD ART ROAD•STOCKTON,CA•95215•(209)931-4931 •(209)931-1433 Fax WWW.SJFB.ORG