County Executive's urban growth proposal would add agricultural land

Previous data had an error showing a net loss of ag-zoned land

JARED PABEN - THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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County Executive Pete Kremen's land-use proposal would increase the amount of land zoned for agriculture in Whatcom County, not decrease it, new data shows.

An error by county GIS staff previously stated his proposal for urban growth area changes would result in a net decrease of 28 acres of farmland. As it turns out, the proposal would add five acres of farmland, new data shows.

The proposal is part of the county's effort to update urban growth areas countywide to accommodate the next two decades of growth. The county is more than two years late doing the work, and it has been ordered by a state growth board to finish the update by Dec. 1.

In all, the recommendation would reduce the amount of land zoned for urban growth by 7,815 acres county wide.

The error was discovered by Rollin Harper, planner for the city of Everson. County staff forgot to add 33 acres along Van Buren Road north of Everson into land that's being returned from urban growth to ag zoning. After counting that land, there's a net increase of five acres.

In all, a total of 203 acres are being returned to ag zoning from urban zoning. And a total of 198 acres are being taken from ag zoning into urban zoning.

But Henry Bierlink, executive director of nonprofit Whatcom Farm Friends, said the change doesn't matter. That land near Everson is in an area that floods and couldn't be developed anyway. But the Lynden land, which is good farmland, could be developed. The net increase looks good on paper, he said, but it's not a benefit to farmland.

"We're kind of calling that out," he said. "It's good ag land. We want to keep it in ag land, but it will always be anyway."

Harper disagrees. The land is in an area that floods, but there's no prohibition against developing it. Much of it was slated for future golf course expansion or development, which would still eat up ag land, and the rest was for housing. Rezoning it to ag would protect it from both of those things.

"The point isn't whether there's urban capacity that's not available there, the point is that you're gaining ag land," he said.

Kremen's recommendation would have the following impacts to agriculture-zoned land:

Everson: Add 67 acres of ag from urban, add 27 acres of urban from ag; net increase of 40 acres of ag land;

Ferndale: Add 37 acres of ag from urban;

Lynden: Add 171 acres of urban from ag;

Nooksack: Add 99 acres of ag from urban.

The county Planning Commission and County Council will hold a joint public hearing on the proposal at 6 p.m. on Sept. 17, in County Council Chambers, 311 Grand Ave. in Bellingham.

FOR MORE INFORMATION

Go to Whatcomcounty.us/pds/2031/index.jsp and click on "Urban Growth Area Update."