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title: ""In 2016 my brother and I started a farm on 40 acres of land out in…"
date: 2020-08-16
source: facebook
type: Archer T. Ships shared a link.
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# "In 2016 my brother and I started a farm on 40 acres of land out in…

*August 16, 2020 · Facebook*

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[https://www.change.org/p/michael-wasserman-stop-santa-clara-county-from-seizing-gatosgardens](https://www.change.org/p/michael-wasserman-stop-santa-clara-county-from-seizing-gatosgardens){target="_blank"}
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\"In 2016 my brother and I started a farm on 40 acres of land out in the Santa Cruz mountains. We work together as designer/builder/engineers, and decided to approach sustainable agriculture from this perspective, incorporating different ideas and technologies into plans for this property. Our intent was to rehabilitate an extremely unhealthy forest that burned in a wildfire in 2002, and create an off-grid educational farm where we could practice regenerative forestry and agriculture, iterate, and share what we learn with others.\
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However, Santa Clara County is now threatening to seize our farm over non-existent code violations!\
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We\'ve been hit with a barrage of alleged violations that carry fines of up to \$37,500 PER DAY for things that senior county officials have admitted on record they did not observe and have no evidence to show ever existed. The County then attempted to use those looming penalties as leverage to force us into something like a criminal plea deal, offering to strike the violations that carried the heaviest fines if only we'd agree to sign a draconian 'compliance agreement' that was explicitly communicated as a 'sign or seizure' ultimatum. Signing would have forced us to forfeit our rights to appeal any of the remaining violations, eradicate all of the work we have put into this farm project, submit all future work to the County for discretionary approval, and pay exorbitant fines/fees.\"
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