Mark Craven
Initiative 01-02 is not what some would have you believe. No farmer has ever been required to get a permit to plow, plant or harvest. Instead, it is an effort to open farms up to development, without any permit or environmental safeguards.
This extreme measure is bad for farming, bad for downstream property owners who will receive drainage and muddy water and bad for the environment. It would allow major lot preparation and speed up the loss of agriculture land to development.
Read for yourself. The initiative would exempt from grading and drainage permits all "agricultural activities" as defined in Snohomish County Code 32.15.020, but omits the text of that definition. Included are non-farming development activities, like construction of roads, drains, waterways, maintenance of stream banks and watercourses — activities that are far beyond routine plowing, planting and harvesting.
This poorly drafted initiative would allow anyone claiming to be a farmer, to clear, grade and drain land anywhere in Snohomish County regardless of the existing land use. There would be no requirement to protect neighboring properties from the impacts of development.
Initiative I-02 presents sweeping exemptions to the drainage and grading codes for development activities. The exemptions would put Snohomish County in conflict with state and federal regulations. Conflicts between jurisdictions result in legal challenges that may increase regulation, in this case for county farmers. Unhappily, a legal challenge to I-02 will unnecessarily cost the taxpayers of the county thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Initiative I-02 is does not preserve the farmer or the agricultural lands in Snohomish County. For that reason, responsible farmers and taxpayers wanting to avoid costly court action are opposing I-02. People interested in good stewardship of the rural lands and the environment are also opposing I-02.
The county is engaged in a statewide process to ensure farms and farmers can remain viable and also protect endangered species. This work will be completed soon and will give commercial agriculture the guidelines we must follow. The legislation in Initiative 01-02 will not help agriculture but harm it. We need to preserve agriculture, not degrade it.
As a farmer in the Snohomish Valley for over 25 years, I have worked with the county to change legislation to keep agriculture and farmers viable. As we know, government does not move as fast as we would like, but we do have support from the county council and county executive on many agriculture issues and changes are happening for the betterment of agriculture.
Initiative 01-02 does not support agriculture! Please join me and vote no on Initiative 01-02.
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