EVERETT – Control over a central piece of farmland in the Stillaguamish River Valley is pitting Snohomish County officials against housing builders.
The prize is about 90 acres owned for decades by farmer Orin Barlond.
Barlond appears to have a choice: Sell to builders for hundreds of thousands of dollars, or sell his building rights to the county for a fraction of that but still keep the land in farming.
Officials hope to control which way the dominoes topple. If Barlond’s property becomes suburban housing, other farmland could follow.
If not, the land could be the first property locked up in farming under the county’s transfer of development rights program, which was formally adopted in December. The program targets 3,400 fertile acres north of Arlington for protection.
Barlond said he could “very easily” sell to builders and put houses on his land, but he won’t say how many houses or for what price.
If so, it would jeopardize the county’s effort to protect large tracts of farmland such as Barlond’s.
“If we can consummate a purchase with Barlond, he will keep the underlying land, and we will buy the development rights for that land,” county executive director Tom Fitzpatrick said last week.
The Snohomish County Council has voted to give the county the power to buy Barlond’s right to build houses. Discussions are under way.
Barlond has had several offers and is “fairly close to inking a deal with one of those developers,” County Councilman John Koster said.
“It’s one of the key farms in the center of the valley,” he said.
Barlond has a third option: to sell just the building rights to developers and preserve the land for farming. Under the county program, developers, like the county, can pay a farmer for the rights to build housing, then shift those rights to rural land east of Arlington.
To buy Barlond’s building rights, the county would need to become a middleman and buy the rights with property taxes collected in the name of land conservation. Later, the county could resell the rights to builders for suburban housing in another area.
The Barlond property is the first test of the system.
“The county would be the first to buy these rights,” County Councilman Dave Somers said. “Exactly what these rights are worth is up in the air. What we pay influences the market.”
Any price agreed to would set the tone for future sales of building rights.
Barlond said he joined the county transfer program a year ago for $600, but hasn’t closed a deal. He said the tone of the negotiations with the county is important.
“They have to be sincere,” Barlond said. “I’m a businessman. There’s no real story until the negotiation’s done.”
In the same breath, Barlond said he would sell the land “one way or another,” and then said, “I’d like to keep it” for farming crops.
Ultimately, county officials hope developers and farmers can work out their own deals without the county.
“I hope this works,” Koster said. “I hope the market takes off.”
Reporter Jeff Switzer: 425-339-3452 or jswitzer@heraldnet.com.
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