County Council approves program to save farmland, other open space

David Wickert; The News Tribune

Published: November 27th, 2007 07:20 PM

The Pierce County Council Tuesday approved a new conservation program that compensates farmers and other property owners while allowing them to protect their land from development.

The market-driven approach allows the owners of farms, timberland and other open space to sell development rights to their property without actually having it developed. And it allows developers who buy those rights to get credits that will allow them to increase the density of building projects in urban areas.

Supporters hailed the voluntary program as a milestone in the county’s conservation efforts.

“It will be a model we can look to all across this state,” Don Stewart of the American Farmland Trust told the council.

Preservation has become a council priority as the county loses farms and other open space to development. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Pierce County lost nearly 7,900 acres of farmland from 1992 to 1997, and another 4,500 acres between 1997 and 2002.

As the development value of farmland rises, farmers often sell. And other farmers who might be interested in buying such property often can’t compete with bids from developers who want to build homes or businesses.

The new program will allow farmers and others who own certain kinds of open space to sell or transfer the development rights to their property, allowing them to realize some financial gain. But instead of being developed, the property would be set aside for conservation.

Developers can buy the development rights directly from property owners or from a special “bank” to be set up by the county. Developers who buy the rights qualify for credits they can use to increase the density of developments in cities and urban areas.

The program was developed by the Cascade Land Conservancy, which studied similar programs across the United States.

Ryan Mello, the agency’s Pierce County conservation director, told the council that getting private industry involved in protecting open space will have a much greater impact than government efforts alone.

“No one needs to tell you conservation funding sources are drying up,” Mello said.

Not everyone is sold. Representatives of homebuilders and real estate agents told the council they support the concept but feared the process as drafted would be too cumbersome to be effective.

What’s more, cities must be persuaded to allow developments of greater density within their borders in exchange for preserving rural open space.

Council members said they might need to revisit the conservation program. But they voted unanimously to support it.

“I think the quest for perfect legislation results in no legislation,” said Councilman Dick Muri, R-Steilacoom.

Councilwoman Barbara Gelman, D-Tacoma, said the program “will allow the market to take care of preservation of open space.”

And Councilman Calvin Goings, D-Puyallup, said the proposal will be remembered as “the most important sustainability initiative the council approved.”