The York County Planning Commission says it favors establishing performance standards for agricultural operations — namely oyster farms — rejecting two of the three options that the Board of Supervisors asked it to study.

The county has been in a long, drawn-out legal battle with two at-home oyster farmers, who the state Supreme Court ruled must get permits to continue their operations. With a change in state law taking effect Jan. 1 that removes the county's ability to require these permits, it is scrambling to come up with a way to oversee these operations in residential districts.

So the supervisors asked its planners to look at three options: strike agriculture and aquaculture completely from residentially zoned districts; create a new residential district that does not allow either practice; or establish standards such as minimum lot size, setbacks and buffering for such operations.

The commission, during a work session Wednesday, said it doesn't favor either the first or second option.

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