Kern County General Plan - Chapter 1, Land Use - County of Kern

18. Actively monitor the actions of local, State, and federal agencies related to energy
development in Kern County and lobby and present its position on such matters as
needed to protect County interests.
19. Work with other agencies to define regulatory responsibility concerning energyrelated
issues.
20. Areas along rivers and streams will be conserved where feasible to enhance
drainage, flood control, recreational, and other beneficial uses while acknowledging
existing land use patterns.
21. The County shall encourage qualifying agricultural lands to participate in the
Williamson Act program or Farmland Security Zone program.
22. The County shall encourage efforts through the State legislature to increase
subvention payment rates for State reimbursement to the County to more
realistically offset the loss of property tax revenues associated with participation
with the Williamson Act program or the Farmland Security Zone program.
23. The County should encourage the merger of largely undeveloped antiquated
subdivisions which are designated Map Code 8.1 (Intensive Agriculture), Map Code
8.2 (Resource Reserve), Map Code 8.3 (Extensive Agriculture), or Map Code 8.5
(Resource Management) into larger holdings to achieve density consistency with
the underlying land use designation.
24. Urban residential or commercial development on property contiguous to property
designated Map Code 8.1 (Intensive Agriculture) should employ landscaping, lot
size, open space buffering, increased building setbacks, or other techniques to
reduce the potential for land use conflicts when it can be demonstrated that such
measures will provide for public welfare and benefit and promote continued
agricultural uses.
25. Discourage incompatible land use adjacent to Map Code 8.4 (Mineral and
Petroleum) areas.
IMPLEMENTATION MEASURES: RESOURCE
A. Periodically update the General Plan's Resource Data maps with new information,
such as annexations, as it becomes available from the various data sources. Land
use designations may be revised by amending the plan to more appropriate uses at
the time of the Annual Report to reflect more accurate data or information.
B. Areas designated as Resource Reserve (Map Code 8.2), Extensive Agriculture
58