King County Council implemented new updates to the Farmland Preservation Program (FPP) at its meeting on Oct. 5. The first version of the FPP—established in 1979 through the Farmlands and Open Space Bond Initiative—authorized the county to purchase development rights from property owners to protect agricultural lands and production.
The new revisions address a number of issues that have arisen over the past couple of decades. The county recognized that the face of agriculture has changed; land has become more expensive, water is becoming more scarce and some land use codes potentially conflict with farming operations.
After working closely with farmers, the King County Agricultural Commission determined that the FPP could be revised to protect the future use of farmland by adding restrictive covenants. The revisions also loosen some restrictions so that farmers can take full advantage of the rising demand for locally-produced and value-added farm products.
The main sponsor of the ordinance, councilmember Reagan Dunn, believes that the restrictive covenants added to the FPP will “provide more economic opportunities for farmers and strengthen the program overall.”
Some important program revisions included in the ordinance include:
- Site maps will now be required to show the "building envelopes" of any existing or planned structures. The site maps may not be revised without permission from the county. This protects farmland by reducing the number of access roads, buildings or other land disruptions that may occur from development dispersed throughout the property.
- New and remodeled dwelling units will now also have a limit on their size to ensure that the property will remain affordable in future years.
- Even though participating property owners are not required to farm, the county wants to ensure that the land will be available in the future to support commercial agricultural production. In order to do this, the county is now requiring those who participate in the FPP to have a farm or dairy management plan, which requires proper maintenance of the land.
- Property owners are required to take all the necessary steps to retain all of the “water rights necessary for present or future agricultural production” or relinquish their water rights to the county. This ensures that water rights will not be lost due to lack of use.
- Under the previous program, farmers were prohibited from allowing any on-site food consumption. The county recognized that this restriction limited a farmer's ability to better market their value-added products, so on-site food consumption will be allowed under the new FPP.
- Formerly, farmers were only allowed to market and process food that was produced on-site. Now farmers will be able to promote products that are created elsewhere “if it helps to maintain the economic viability of other agricultural operations in King County.”
For a complete account of the changes, click here.
