The years of pondering and debating what agritourism activities should or should not be allowed in Skagit Valley might be coming to an end.
With a 5-3 vote on Jan. 27, the Skagit County Planning Commission moved forward with recommending the Board of County Commissioners approve a series of code amendments for agritourism.
Commissioners Tim Raschko, Tammy Candler, Angela Day, Amy Hughes and Patsy Good voted in favor, while Commissioners Xuhua Mu, Jed Holmes and Kiera Wright opposed the motion. Commissioner Joe Woodmansee was absent.
After a 3 1/2-hour discussion, some previously proposed amendments were modified.
One such modification had proposed a definition for agritourism – undefined in the current code – 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.”
The alternative, proposed by Day, was more extensive and sought to provide more clarity.
“Agritourism provides opportunities for working farms and ranches to preserve and promote Skagit County’s agricultural lands. Agritourism allows for educational and experiential activities that are related to, and supportive of, agricultural production. Agritourism activities must have a direct connection to an actively managed, ongoing agricultural operation. Agritourism helps agricultural producers keep working lands in production by diversifying and enhancing their income. Agritourism activities must be incidental and subordinate to existing agricultural operations.”
The new code would also create three tiers of agritourism: agritourism 1, agritourism 2 and agritourism 3. A motion to require that agritourism 1 activities (limited to 50 guests for up to 10 days a year) get an administrative special use permit rather than being a permitted use, as was originally proposed, passed 6-2 on Jan. 27.
The commission also removed language that would give farms that are registered with the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival an additional 30 days of agritourism activities between March 15 and May 15, and recommended adding music venues and concerts to the list of prohibited uses in the Agricultural-Natural Resources Zone.
The agritourism conversation, which has caused a stir among the local farming community since it began in 2021, has met several setbacks.
To give planning staff and commissioners more time to develop regulations that could balance the preservation of farmland with the financial viability of farms, county commissioners have prohibited the acceptance of new permit applications for certain agritourism activities. The moratorium was first issued in 2024 and has been extended several times since, most recently on Jan. 6.
In an email to La Conner Community News, Senior Planner Robby Eckroth wrote that the Board of County Commissioners will discuss the agritourism proposal at a work session on March 24. A public hearing will take place April 13, with a possible vote on April 28.
Luisa Loi is a general assignment reporter for La Conner Community News.
