Washington state lawmakers may boost farmland protections
OLYMPIA -- The Legislature is seriously considering a measure to roll back a key piece of environmental law in order to protect farmland threatened by new buffers around areas deemed to be environmentally sensitive.
At the least, lawmakers appear poised to declare a two-year time out for farmland so the issue can be studied.
With Democrats enjoying their strongest grip on power in Olympia in almost a half-century, the environmental lobby is largely having its way in Olympia. But it has reluctantly accepted at least a delay in the full implementation of updated local ordinances designed to protect critical areas.
"I never would have predicted the environmental community would be here today," environmental lobbyist Clifford Traisman told a House committee last week.
But last year's failed Initiative 933, a property rights measure put up by the Washington Farm Bureau to compensate landowners whose land is devalued by government laws and regulation, has provided the impetus.
"I think it's a recognition the issues were real even if the initiative was not the right response," said Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, a Spokane Democrat who allowed a vote on the most sweeping version of the bill even though most Democrats voted against it. "There's definitely a value in preserving agricultural lands."
The state's Growth Management Act requires counties to update their critical areas ordinances, which designate sensitive environmental areas such as wetlands, fish and wildlife conservation areas and frequently flooded areas. In revising their ordinances, some local governments are increasing the required buffers between those sensitive areas and where development and other activities, including agricultural production, can occur.
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Lawmakers may boost farmland protections
