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HomeMy WebLinkAboutNatural Resources April 25 2006WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL Natural Resources Committee April 25, 2006 Committee Chair Dan McShane called the meeting to order at 9:30 a.m. in the Council Chambers, 311 Grand Avenue, Bellingham, Washington. Present: Absent: Seth Fleetwood None Carl Weimer Also Present: None COMMITTEE DISCUSSION 18 19 1. DISCUSSION REGARDING THE PROCESS FOR DEVELOPMENT OF A WORK 20 PLAN TO PRESERVE WHATCOM COUNTY'S AGRICULTURE, FORESTRY, AND 21 NATURAL RESOURCE LAND BASE WHILE RECOGNIZING LAND VALUES AND 22 PROPERTY RIGHTS (AB2006 -203) 23 24 McShane stated the councilmembers agreed on a purpose statement at a previous 25 Planning and Development Committee meeting. The next step is to figure out the actions 26 they should take and a timeline. Today, Mr. Holbrook will present information on staff 27 availability and what the County is already doing on natural resource issues. 28 29 Troy Holbrook, Planning Division, stated staff is taking a long time to look at this 30 because the Comprehensive Plan docket, which started this discussion, is taking up time 31 and require a holistic view. Look at how all the policies interact. None of the programs 32 stand alone. 33 34 He submitted a presentation (on file). He hopes today will lead to set up a scoping 35 work session with the full Council. He read the presentation about the current staffing 36 availability. 37 38 Fleetwood asked the number of total full -time equivalent (FTE) employee's in the 39 Planning Department. Holbrook stated the total is 14, which includes two clerks and two 40 geographic information system (GIS) folks. 41 42 He read the presentation on current activities of the Agriculture Advisory Committee, 43 the County Council docketed items, and scoping. 44 45 Hal Hart, Planning and Development Director, stated it's very important to be 46 innovative and to amend the Comprehensive Plan as soon as possible, if necessary, to 47 protect agricultural lands. The focus should be what in the Comprehensive Plan hasn't been 48 done, what resources need to be committed, and other programmatic ideas and concepts 49 used across the country that can be applied here. 50 51 Fleetwood asked what happens after the scoping meeting and what staff will do. 52 Holbrook stated staff will develop a work program based on items decided upon in the 53 scoping meeting. They will work with the administration to find resources. Natural Resources Committee, 4/25/2006, Page 1 Fleetwood asked what the staff would do. Holbrook stated it depends on what comes out of the scoping meeting. Staff would look at how all the programs are integrated. Hart stated the stakeholders are important to broaden the discussion. Whatcom County is behind conservation program agriculture land (CPAL's). Whatcom County is already further ahead of other counties because they've adopted its critical areas ordinance early. When they tie in salmon recovery and the water resource inventory area (WRIA) to what they want to do with agriculture, Whatcom County is far ahead of other counties. They must keep in mind the larger picture of what they're doing on the landscape. Don't have a standalone agriculture program. Instead, integrate it into other programs. There is another component. The same problems with agriculture are showing up with lowland forestry, also. The issue is as broad as the landscape. McShane stated there are significant portions of the western area of the county that used to be farmed, aren't farmed now, and aren't developed into housing, either. They have converted to forestry. Those forests are extremely valuable. Those lowland forests can be harvested in 30 or 40 years instead of the 80 years it takes in the higher elevations. That's important to explore. Find out the cost to fully develop those areas in terms of infrastructure. The City of Bellingham is struggling with commuter traffic coming in from outside the city. People in the county are complaining about traffic problems in the city. Hart stated the focus of this process will be on agriculture, but there are other issues that are related. Weimer stated the scope now is the broad zoning and Comprehensive Plan issues. People are asking about what will happen on the ground after scoping is done. Integrate that discussion in the scoping meeting. Hart stated the staff needs the Council's input on each issue brought up in the presentation. Fleetwood stated that before the scoping meeting, he needs a general sense of what this overall exercise is about. He recognizes that the scoping process will further refine the result. He asked what will be delivered to the Council. He asked if there will be a suite of options for the Council to implement. Hart stated they will start with a detailed presentation of what the County is doing now to preserve the agricultural economy in Whatcom County. That's the question and the challenge. Then ask what action items in the Comprehensive _ Plan, which is the chief policy document, haven't been implemented. The third question is 41 whether there are additional policies, action items, partnerships, and ideas that need to be 42 developed. Part of the analysis of the current program should include its strengths, 43 weaknesses, and successes. Do a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats 44 (SWOT) review. 45 46 Fleetwood asked if this is in the context of the regular docking process. Hart stated 47 it is. They are having this discussion to accommodate the docket in a rational manner. It is 48 large, with a lot of ramifications. 49 50 Fleetwood asked if staff would look into the similar regions with the same kinds of 51 problems. Hart stated staff would, after the scoping meeting. 52 Natural Resources Committee, 4/25/2006, Page 2 Dewey Desler, Deputy Administrator, stated the County does a number of things already that supports the agricultural base. They don't often recognize those things. Once they establish where the community wants to go, the staff can do some fairly aggressive searches on best practices in other communities, and bring them back to the Council. There may be contracts, new staff, and new program initiatives. The administration won't know what those will be until the Council has done scoping meetings. Talk about what they've done in the past, what they can do better, and what can be done in the future that has worked in other communities. Weimer stated he liked the idea of turning this into a SWOT review, especially before the upcoming budget cycle. Desler stated it's like a strategic planning process. Start with what works, then identify issues and challenges. McShane stated that in the short-term, look at the critical actions they need to take sooner rather than later. A lot of the programs he's seen elsewhere are long -term programs. It seems that the urban growth areas are an immediate issue. It will be very critical for his approach to urban growth areas. If he doesn't see a benefit to the expansion of an urban growth area (UGA), then he has no reason to support it. The question is whether or not an expansion is good for the community, in terms of alleviating problems and mitigating existing problems. Hart stated the department has been advocating that they make the link between agriculture and UGA expansion. Question whether they could do a purchase of development right (PDR) or transfer of development right (TDR) link between a UGA expansion and to preserve the soil elsewhere in the county. McShane stated another advantage is the transportation prediction impacts. Hart stated that is coming, as well. McShane stated the idea for the first scoping meeting is to have a presentation on what they're doing now, what should be implemented, SWOT, what else they should do, and what should be emphasized and prioritized for the short-term. Hart stated ask those same questions of each of the stakeholders. McShane stated there is tremendous opportunity visualized by people outside the area. He is concerned about getting bogged down in process and creating a stakeholder committee. The Council needs to be very engaged. For now, talk about what should be covered at the scoping meeting. Separately, talk about how to engage the stakeholders. Hart stated have the stakeholders respond to a set of questions from the Council. Holbrook stated he can provide a list of stakeholders for the Council to review before the meeting. Hart stated the meeting would be similar to the Council's water resource work sessions. Fleetwood stated it's difficult to have a working meeting with too many people. McShane stated involve a broad range of stakeholders to get and give information. Don't necessarily involve them in the work session. The Council needs to take a lead on that. The Council wants their input. The stakeholders can follow up with questions and comment prior to a follow up work session. read. Fleetwood stated staff would create a draft scoping document for stakeholders to Natural Resources Committee, 4/25/2006, Page 3 Weimer stated the Council needs good input, but don't create another water resource inventory area (WRIA) process that drags on for months. McShane stated the Council will have a work session on May 16. Have the Council get up to speed and think about what it wants to emphasize. A month later, have a follow up meeting with stakeholders. Holbrook stated staff could develop a draft scoping paper to send out to the stakeholders. Fleetwood stated schedule a discussion with the Conservation District in the Natural Resources Committee on May 9. McShane stated a long -term item is how to financially support agriculture. They have economic development money. Decide how agriculture is prioritized. Fleetwood asked if the Council would develop a draft scoping document on the 16th for stakeholders to review. Hart stated that is correct. The Council would hold a follow -up meeting after stakeholders review the draft. McShane stated allow the stakeholders to get information and answers at the May 16 meeting. Some of the agricultural folks may have a hard time getting information to the Council. This is a busy time of year. The Council has had a fair bit of input from those groups already. (Clerk's Note: End of tape one, side A.) McShane stated he would be interested in the positions of real estate associations, building industry, bankers, lenders, and others who aren't directly tied to the natural resource industries. There is often discussion about process, especially when going in a direction that some don't like. Every two years, there is an electoral process. These items have been discussed in that process. Don't forget that. He takes that seriously. Think about how to do a transfer of development right (TDR) program fairly. Bob Wiesen, 3314 Douglas Road, stated keep in mind those who will farm in the future and the practicality of these agricultural soils. He lives west of Ferndale where there is high clay content soils that are good soils, but hard to work. Most people who used to farm took other jobs. If there are good jobs off the farm, people will keep farming. A _ _ question is how to keep agriculture viable if water is an issue. The viable crops in the 41 county are more dependent, not less dependent, on water. There will eventually be no 42 more dairy farmers in the county. Allow retired dairy barns to be used for something else 43 as a cottage industry. 44 45 McShane stated that Council has delayed figuring that out. 46 47 Wiesen stated other non - farming businesses can be used in the farmland. 48 Somehow, they got the idea that nothing should be done out there but farming. There are 49 good things that can be done out there. Consider the effect of the critical areas ordinance 50 on farmable land. A question is how much land will be taken out of farmland for restoration 51 programs. He asked why they haven't zoned mineral resource land. He asked why they 52 make a gravel proponent find a piece of land and try to get it approved. Identify the areas 53 with the resources, and protect them. Natural Resources Committee, 4/25/2006, Page 4 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 McShane stated he would like to zone the mineral resource lands that way, but the Council hasn't had much luck doing that. OTHER BUSINESS There was no other business. ADJOURN The meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. Jill Nixon, `\ r$ijxwte9 Trgnscription Co ATTI��.• PZCOM •••� Da a��NL!lq erk t111111���\ WHATCOM COUNTY COUNCIL WHATCOM COUNTY, WASHINGTON Dan McShane, Committee Chair Natural Resources Committee, 4/25/2006, Page 5