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Mr. Factor <br /> Page Two <br /> The impact upon current and future agricultural <br /> operations. <br /> Except for a special five month cancellation period in 1982 , to <br /> clear up past inequities in the Williamson Act, cancellation has <br /> been, and continues to be, viewed as an exceptional action. The <br /> normal procedure for contract termination involves giving a <br /> Notice of Nonrenewal. Nonrenewal triggers a phase-out process <br /> whereby an affected landholding is free of all Williamson Act <br /> restrictions after 10 years. <br /> When a landowner and a local government agree that cancellation <br /> is necessary and appropriate, there are specific findings which <br /> the local government must make, and substantial cancellation <br /> penalty fees which the landowner(s) must pay before action can be <br /> certified. Specifically, for the San Joaquin County Board of <br /> Supervisors to grant tentative cancellation, it must make one of <br /> the following findings: (1) that the cancellation is consistent <br /> with the purposes of the Williamson Act; or (2) that cancellation <br /> is in the public interest (Section 51282 of the Government Code) . <br /> For the purposes of the first finding, a cancellation can be <br /> considered consistent only if - the Board makes all of the <br /> following additional findings: (1) that the cancellation is for <br /> land on which a notice of nonrenewal has been served pursuant to <br /> Section 51245 of the Government Code; (2) that cancellation is <br /> not likely to result in the removal of adjacent lands from <br /> agricultural use; (3) that cancellation is for an alternative use <br /> which is consistent with the applicable provisions of the <br /> County' s general plan; (4) that cancellation will not result in <br /> discontiguous patterns of urban development; and (5) that there <br /> is no proximate noncontracted land which is both available and <br /> suitable for the use to which it is proposed the contracted land <br /> be put, or that development of the contracted land would provide <br /> more contiguous patterns of urban development than development of <br /> proximate non-contracted land. <br /> As used in Section 51282 , "proximate noncontracted land" means <br /> land not restricted by contract pursuant to the Act, and which is <br /> sufficiently close to land which is so restricted that it can <br /> serve as a practical alternative for the use which is proposed <br /> for the restricted land. <br /> For the purposes of the second finding, Cancellation shall be in <br /> the public interest only if the Board makes the following <br /> findings: (1) that other public concerns substantially outweigh <br /> the objectives of the Williamson Act; and (2) that there is no <br /> proximate noncontracted land which is both available and suitable <br />