Farms vs. agriculture

Published 9:00 pm Wednesday, October 6, 2004

MARYSVILLE – When is agricultural land really agricultural land?

Snohomish County residents may wonder how it is that ball fields can’t be built in Snohomish and a car dealership can’t be built at Island Crossing, but a NASCAR track can be built in Marysville – all on agricultural land.

The answer is that even though it’s all rural, it’s not all necessarily agricultural land.

Farmland today isn’t required to remain in agriculture unless it has been designated to have long-term significance.

Simply put, the agricultural land at Island Crossing and near Snohomish was deemed significant enough to stay that way, while the agricultural land in north Marysville was changed to accommodate growth.

Under the state’s Growth Management Act, cities and counties were required to plan for growth to prevent suburban sprawl from gobbling up farmland. Cities established urban growth areas, or areas outside their boundaries where growth could occur and eventually become part of the cities.

“Just because cows are out someplace or corn is growing one year, doesn’t mean it’s deemed for protection under the county’s comprehensive plan,” Arlington planning director Cliff Strong said.

Authorities say it makes sense for cities to grow gradually by increasing their boundaries, particularly in suburban areas that lie between them, rather than put a residential area in an agricultural zone.

That’s precisely what happened between Marysville and Arlington.

In the mid-1990s, Snohomish County, working with the two cities, decided that Smokey Point would become part of Arlington and some land to the south would become Marysville’s urban growth area and eventually be annexed to that city.

Three recent projects led to this predicament.

International Speedway Corp. has selected the north Marysville area as its preferred site to build a NASCAR racetrack on acreage that is mostly farmland.

In Snohomish, 17 North and South Snohomish Little League ball fields were built on farmland just east of town.

And Dwayne Lane made a request for an annexation and rezoning to allow a new car dealership on farmland along I-5 at Island Crossing near Arlington.

“The Island Crossing area has been designated as agricultural land of long-term significance in the county’s comprehensive plan,” Strong said, adding that’s why Lane’s proposal has been denied.

The county’s comprehensive plan prohibits commercial operations on designated agricultural land, said John Roney, the county’s agricultural coordinator.

“The definition of agricultural activity could change over the years, but the current definition doesn’t include car lots or box stores or that type of thing, and probably never would,” he said.

In Snohomish, the ball fields were built on property also designated long-term agricultural land. That makes the ball fields illegal, and they’ll have to be removed by May unless the state Legislature changes the law.

While the land for the proposed NASCAR site is rural, it is not designated agricultural land of long-term significance .

“That land was designated as urban growth area for the city of Marysville and was slated more than likely to become residential properties,” Roney said.

Reporter Cathy Logg: 425-339-3437 or logg@heraldnet.com.