Farmland Organizations Appeal Sumner’s Attempt to Pave Over Prime Farmland for Developer.
“We must stop the current trend of paving over farmland in Pierce County” said Amy Moreno-Sills, Crop Production Manager at Terry’s Berries. “Our community has been built on agriculture and needs to continue to have the capacity to produce for its population.”
Over the last ten years, Pierce County has lost more agricultural land than any other county in Western Washington. This loss and increased demands for local food have resulted in a growing demand for farmland in Pierce County as documented by the Pierce County Agriculture Strategic Plan. At the county public hearings, local farmers testified that there was a shortage of land available for farmers to grow food in Pierce County.
That is why Futurewise, the American Farmland Trust, the Friends of Pierce County, the Tahoma Audubon Society, and the PCC Farmland Trust filed an appeal with the Growth Management Hearings Board on December 7, 2011 to overturn the Pierce County Council's and Executive’s decision to allow Sumner to expand their urban growth area onto 182 acres of prime farmland. Tim Trohimovich, Futurewise, Director of Planning & Law stated, “The County’s own studies show that Sumner and Pierce County already have enough land in the urban growth area for all of their needed growth. There is no need to expand onto prime farmland.”
In October, over public opposition, the Pierce County Council unanimously approved expansion of the City of Sumner’s UGA into farmland between the city boundary and the Puyallup River. The County Planning Commission had voted down this application. “In its decision, the County Council set a new precedent that will accelerate the loss of farmland in Puyallup Valley,” said Marian Berejikian, Friends of Pierce County Executive Director. Krystal Kyer, the Executive Director of the Tahoma Audubon Society, noted that “instead of being required to develop within the urban growth area, the developer is getting a deal that no other citizen gets – he gets to develop cheap farmland for greater financial benefit. He should be required to follow the rules like everyone else.” “An appeal will make sure the County follows its own policies and regulations to protect its remaining farmland” said Marian Berejikian.
The county’s decision called for the developers to purchase development rights from farmland in another part of the county in exchange for the loss of farmland near to Sumner. “The compromise is a shell game. The continued application of this formula encourages further expansion of cities into adjoining agricultural lands. Do the math: before this decision we had 182 additional acres of farmland in the county; after this decision we have minus 182 acres of farmland. No matter how you do the math, it’s a net loss of prime farmland” said Dennis Canty, Pacific Northwest Regional Director of the American Farmland Trust.
