By Warren Cornwall
Herald Writer
Snohomish County leaders hope to stave off development of the Stillaguamish River Valley by paying property owners not to convert their land into subdivisions.
Snohomish County Councilman John Koster and County Executive Bob Drewel on Monday sent a letter to Arlington Mayor Bob Kraski laying out a plan for what is known as a "transfer of development rights."
Governments would buy the rights to develop open land between Arlington and I-5, and, in return, sell these rights for denser development in more urban areas.
It would be the first time the county has used the technique. King County has used such transfers in recent years to protect 1,000 acres of land.
The arrangement could have advantages for a number of parties, Koster said. Landowners would get money for what they would make developing their land, neighbors would be spared seeing farmland turned into housing, and developers could buy higher density land elsewhere.
"We’re just trying to find a solution that works for everybody," he said.
The matter has gained added urgency as area landowners, several of them farmers, warn they are going to start building houses on their land unless local governments help them devise a long-term plan for the area.
In a series of meetings in late 2001, landowners told local politicians they could potentially create dozens of housing parcels by uncovering decades-old boundaries breaking their land into lots.
"If we’re going to make this move from the county, we’ve got to push this forward," Koster said.
To make it work, officials would need support from landowners, developers, and county and city officials, as well as money to kick-start the program. The idea has received a warm reception from several landowners and from Mayor Kraski, Koster said. But no firm commitments have been made.
Orin Barlond, one of the property owners who met with Koster, said he was familiar with the transfer idea, but hadn’t seen the letter from Koster and Drewel detailing the proposal. He expressed some interest in trading space in one place for density in more urban areas.
"If they’re going to have density down there, let them buy it up here," Barlond said.
In recent months, he has won county recognition of nine lots on property he owns, and recently applied for nine more, said Neil Anderson, a supervisor in the county planning department.
Kraski could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
The mayor had earlier proposed a more urban vision for the land. In a Jan. 3 letter to Drewel, Kraski wrote that a city planner suggested allowing an industrial park in the area in return for preservation of hundreds of other acres.
The transfer idea appealed to Sue Adams, director of Pilchuck Audubon’s SmartGrowth campaign and a leading local conservationist on development issues. Such programs can protect open space and farmland while encouraging more efficient development in and around cities, she said.
"As far as I can see this is a really good idea," she said.
The cost, and the source of funding, remains uncertain, Koster said. One benefit, he said, is that once initial money is found, the program can sustain itself. That’s because money used to buy development rights is recovered when developers buy those rights for construction elsewhere.
The idea might, however, still falter under the economic pressures of farming, he said.
"You still have to make a living farming the ground," he said. "They (farmers) may say, ‘Well, I’ve got some money now but what am I going to do, keep farming until it’s all gone?’"
You can call Herald Writer Warren Cornwall at 425-339-3463 or send e-mail to cornwall@heraldnet.com.
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