Opinion - Letters to the Editor

POSTED: Thursday, Jul. 09, 2009

Says county should reduce rural zoning

I agree with The Bellingham Herald editorial board's July 5 editorial that we need stronger steps to protect Whatcom County farms. Each year, the county loses about 2,000 acres of rural land (two-thirds the size of Lynden) to urban developments. Worse, current zoning allows construction of 27,000 new homes outside our urban areas - enough to meet the county's housing needs for two decades.

The Whatcom County Council should downzone (remove development rights) from land that is good for farming but is not yet zoned for agriculture. We should spend more money to purchase development rights from land that is most at risk. We should limit water rights to new developments where the water is needed for farms and fish. And we need strong impact fees so that new developments pay for the public infrastructure (roads, schools, and parks) they require.

County and city governments should eliminate policies and programs that encourage people to move here. Again, the lack of impact fees, which requires existing taxpayers to subsidize new developments they don't want, is a major incentive for population growth. So, too, are government-funded economic development programs.

Eric Hirst

Bellingham