Skagit County is taking another crack at updating agritourism regulations as officials weigh changes to county code.
The deliberations come amidst persisting controversy about the best uses of Skagit’s farmland.
One side argues things like weddings and cooking classes help farmers make ends meet in an unpredictable industry. The other says non-farming activities threaten neighboring farmers’ operations and the area’s agricultural makeup.
The code updates would prohibit event venues, restaurants, and weddings and limit the number of attendees at agritourism activities as well as their frequency.
The updates don’t include specific examples of allowed uses. Instead, agritourism is defined as “a range of activities conducted on a working farm or ranch that engages the public for the purpose of agricultural education, enjoyment, or recreation that may generate income for the owner or operator.”
Agricultural accessory uses, like you-picks and farm stands, are not included in the regulations.
“This code doesn’t have a specific list of examples of the types of agritourism activities because they can vary,” Planning and Development Services Director Jack Moore told planning commissioners during a Sept. 16 work session. “We felt they could vary so widely and there would be many things that we may not even consider at this time.”
Permitted uses would be limited to 25 guests and could not occur more than 10 days a year.
Farmers could apply for one of two special-use permits for activities that would exceed those limits. The first, an administrative special use permit, would limit guests to 100 and number of allowed days to 24. The second permit type, a hearing examiner special use, would not have any defined limits but would require a special hearing, longer processing times, and a larger fee.
The proposed code also carves out an exception on the maximum number of allowed operating days for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival. Activities that are officially registered with the festival would be allowed to run for 30 additional days between March 15 and May 15.
Skagitonians to Preserve Farmland Executive Director Lora Claus, however, worries the exception for the Tulip Festival may be problematic. While Claus said more work remains to be done on the proposed code, she’s encouraged that the current version explicitly ties agritourism activities to working farms.
“The Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is a beloved event, and it is important that farms be able to participate. At the same time, we are concerned that granting farms growing a certain crop more agritourism participation days than others risks showing favoritism to one type of agriculture over another,” Claus said in an email. “For the long-term health of farming in Skagit County, equitable treatment of all farmers, whether they grow crops or raise livestock, must be maintained in county code.”
Under the proposed code, agritourism operations cannot use road rights-of-way, must be carried out by the owner or operator of a working farm or ranch, and cannot interfere with surrounding farming operations or result in the conversion of agricultural land.
Moore told planning commissioners that county staff have met with existing agritourism operators, who have the choice to enter into a voluntary compliance agreement with the County or go through the future permitting process under the proposed code. The majority, he said, are opting for an agreement, which would hold them to the limitations in their specific agreement rather than the proposed code.
Some planning commissioners voiced concerns about the proposed code. Angela Day, for example, questioned if regulating the number of attendees is the right approach.
“It just seems hard for a farmer to plan and hard for Planning Development Services to regulate,” Day said. “If I grow wheat and I say I’m going to give a demonstration of how to mill this wheat and bake bread and I advertise it and 50 people show up, but I don’t have a (special use) permit — how can I plan for that?”
Moore, however, said the County takes a similar approach in other sections of code and argued focusing on the number of attendees gets to the heart of such operations’ impacts.
“It’s the intensity that makes all the difference. It’s not the actual thing that they’re doing once they all show up, it’s just the fact that there’s that many people there all the time that would create more of an impact,” Moore said.
A previous attempt at changing the code was put on hold last year after the Skagit County Board of County Commissioners rejected code updates that the planning commission voted to approve. Last June, the commissioners passed a resolution remanding the code changes back to the planning commission for additional work and review.
The current changes up for debate must first be approved by the County Planning Commission before passing to County Commissioners for a final vote, which will likely take place in December. The planning commission is accepting public comment Sept. 25 to Oct. 16 and will hold a public hearing on Oct. 14.
Sydnee Chapman is a freelance and investigative reporter. Her work has appeared in various news outlets in the PNW and Intermountain West.
