Agricultural Lands have been long embattled by the works of the GMA (Growth Management Act). Many counties, including our own, have spent millions defending their Critical Areas Ordinances (CAO). Seeing the controversy and costs counties throughout the state were going through, the legislature began looking to amend the law. That work is finally done and now each county must decide if they want to "opt in" to this new process by January 22nd. The Island County Farm Bureau has asked the Board of Commissioners to have a public hearing on our upcoming decision. I brought this up at a recent worksession and the other two went along with a public meeting scheduled for January 17th at 4pm. I will make arrangements for video conferencing to Camano as well. Currently, our CAO pertaining to Agriculture, is in limbo at Thurston County Superior Court. One of our local environmentalist groups, WEAN (Whidbey Environmental Action Network) has not yet been satisfied with the ordinance. The County was deemed compliant with State law at the hearings thus far. But WEAN, unhappy with those results, appealed again. So for Island County, "opting in" to the new Ruckelhaus Voluntary Stewardship Program (VSP), would mean the lawsuit goes away. Any future lawsuits would be defended by the State because they give final blessing.
This may sound "top down" because the State has final say, but their task at that level is only to answer one question, "Does the harm, if any, to the environment outweigh the harm to the Agricultural Industry?"
This would not be an unfunded mandate. We would not be required to begin implementing the plan until we receive funding of $150,000 for the first year, $100,000 for years 2 and 3 and there is no penalty for an early opt out.
Not "opting in" for Island County would likely mean defending our current CAO again in higher court. Past Planning staff and commissions spent many many many hours crafting what appears to be a very good and compliant ordinance. But that would be up to a court to decide and you can't always anticipate a correct outcome.
The one other thing that has been talked about in recent worksessions is settling with WEAN on changes to our CAO. Any substantive changes would mean bringing the ordinance back out for public hearings. This does not seem like a worth while option to me, after all the ordinance has prevailed already.
I do hope it is the intent of my fellow Commissioners to hear the public input before making their decision.
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