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5.ENVIRONMENTAL CHECKLIST MOUNTAIN HOUSE NEIGHBORHOODS K AND L INITIAL STUDY 2.AGRICULTURE AND FORESTRY RESOURCES include a reference to the County's Right-to-Farm Ordinance. The 500-foot buffer area along the western project boundary,which the 1994 MEIR also recommended as mitigation,was changed to a 100-to 220-foot buffer. The Board of Supervisors found that the urban/rural conflict impact could be mitigated to a less-than-significant level by these measures. For Impact No. 3 above,the 1994 MEIR(pages 6-10 through 6-11) recommended that San Joaquin County impose the agricultural mitigation fee recommended as mitigation for Impact No. 1 above, and that jurisdictions in San Joaquin County and elsewhere in the Central Valley(a) be encouraged to increase the densities of planned urban development on agricultural lands so that less agricultural acreage is used, and (b)modify their General Pians to designate agricultural lands for urban growth that will be accommodated during a planning period not to exceed 20 to 25 years. The 1994 MEIR further recommended that the legal findings adopted by each of the Local Agency Formation Commissions(LAFCOs) in the Central Valley counties when approving annexations of agricultural land or other LAFCO actions be modified to incorporate additional findings related to preservation of agricultural lands. As of June 2011,these recommended mitigation measures had not been specifically implemented. Discussion Regarding Neighborhoods K and L a) Would the project convert Prime Farmland, Unique Farmland, or Farmland of Statewide Importance (Farmland), as shown on the maps prepared pursuant to the Farmland Mapping and Monitoring Program of the California Resources Agency, to a non-agricultural use? The currently proposed development within Neighborhoods K and L would not be substantially different from that evaluated in the 1994 MEIR or the Specific Plan II Initial Study. As described in the 1994 MEIR, proposed development throughout the Specific Plan II area would convert approximately 700 acres of Prime Farmland to non-agricultural use. A portion(about 145 acres)of Neighborhood K is designated as"Unique Farmland,"which includes grazing lands and other similar agricultural lands. Another portion (about 90 acres) is designated as"Urban and Built Up"lands,which appear to include storm water basins within the project site. The remainder of Neighborhoods K and L is designated as Prime Farmland. As noted earlier,the findings for the 1994 MEIR identified the loss of this farmland as a significant unavoidable impact, and the Board of Supervisors adopted"Statements of Overriding Consideration"as required by CEQA to justify the loss of 3,600 acres of Prime Farmland associated with the entire Mountain House development. The adopted Master Plan includes an implementation statement stating that if a countywide agricultural mitigation fee were established, an agricultural mitigation fee based on each agricultural acre converted to urban use must be paid by the developer to the County as specified in the ordinance. The County has adopted an agricultural fee. However,this fee excludes areas that have an urban General Plan designation or an urban zoning designation. At the time of (W711 1) 5-16