Friends of Pierce County

Changes to Membership Renewal

2012-01-05T14:43:00.002-08:00

Important notice

Important information regarding renewal notice for current members and discount for new members

To all our current dues paid members:

Please consider this email as your membership renewal letter for 2012. If you cannot pay right now, save this letter and mail in your renewal when it is convenient for you.

We will mail one renewal notice at the beginning of each calendar year. This is change from the way we have done renewals in the past, based on the date when the renewal was sent in.

We are switching our databases and need to mail all letters at the same time.

I realize this might cause a problem from some people who renewed later in 2011, and apologize for any confusion and inconvenience.

Please be patient while we get everyone on the same schedule. It will only happen once!

To anyone who is receiving this letter with our newsletter and is not a current member, you can join now for $20 (that is almost half price - $15 off the normal membership price of $35 a year. Note: This offer applies to anyone who has not paid dues yet.

Please contact me should you have any questions. Thank you all for your support and have a very happy new year!

Upcoming Meetings

2012-01-05T14:43:00.000-08:00

Friends of Pierce County General Membership Meeting

January 26 at 7:30 p. m.

Gig Harbor Library

4424 Point Fosdick Drive Northwest Gig Harbor

Agenda

Guest speaker from American Farmland Trust will talk about the status of farmland in Pierce County

An update on Sumner UGA appeal

Budget discussion

2012 plan

Elect officers

ACTION ALERT

County Code Consolidation - Phase 3 of County code consolidation makes it way to the County Community Development Committee on Jan 23 at 1:30 p.m. for a public hearing in the County Council chambers.

This process to streamline and simplify regulations, has been a daunting task for staff to say the least due to the many different codes. The attempt to standardize regulations has come under fire because of the specific visions for community plans. How can there be one standard laid out in all the different community plans - one size does not fit all. Another area of concern for FPC is section 18A.33.290 that will allow Rural Separator or Rural 10 areas next to state highways to be developed to existing use and higher intensity standards.

For example, if there is a car lot next to farmland, a developer can in effect change zoning to match what is already there.

The CDC will hold a second hearing on Feb 6 at 1:30 p.m. in Council Chambers.

Please attend or contact committee members and ask them not to support any changes in code consolidation which would allow for developers to continue the pattern of sprawl so rampant in this county.

You can contact committee members through Jenifer Schultz at JSCHULT@co.pierce.wa.us.

Press Release - Sumner UGA appeal filed

2011-12-14T15:32:00.000-08:00

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.

Sumner UGA Appeal

2011-11-16T14:59:00.000-08:00

Sumner Land Plan not a done deal - your support is needed!

Last month, the Pierce County Council set a dangerous precedent that will destroy Puyallup and Orting Valley farmland. The Council’s action permits a developer to use 144 acres of protected farmland south of Highway 410 for retail and housing development. This action defied the advice of the county’s planning staff, the planning commission, and countless concerned citizens who rightfully argued that paving over this farmland was neither necessary nor allowed by state law.

Luckily, we do not have to sit by and watch this farmland be paved over - we can hold Pierce County accountable. By doing so, we can start a new legacy for Pierce County – one that stops piecemeal actions like these that are jeopardizing our working farms.

Help us reverse this precedent by supporting an appeal to the Growth Management Hearings Board.

Over the last ten years, Pierce County has lost more acres of its farmland than any other county in Western Washington. It’s precisely because of piecemeal actions like this Sumner amendment. The farmland in the Valley is some of the best soils in the country; we cannot afford to lose more.

That’s why we spent the past several months educating the County on why they needed to continue to protect this farmland. Unfortunately, powerful moneyed interests were able to sway the Council in the other direction. A successful legal appeal is now essential if our growth policies protecting prime farmland are to be enforced locally.

Farmland is precious. Once we lose farmland, it is gone forever. Help us reverse this trend.

Our chances of success are very strong. Will you join us?

A successful appeal would reverse the precedent the County Council has created by preventing the future conversion of the remaining valley farmlands. It would hold the County accountable to its own laws. And this appeal would ensure that our community’s shared vision for continuing farming in the Orting Valley will take precedence over more poorly planned commercial and residential development.

Save The Farmland!

2011-09-30T17:50:00.000-07:00

Action Alert! Please help us save farmland!

Allowing Sumner to expand its Urban Growth Area is a bad idea. It was denied by staff and voted down by the Pierce County Planning Commission. Sumner has a lot of political pull and is asking Council to bring it back for a council vote, basically going around the steps needed to make sure growth happens in accordance with county policies/regulations and state law. Please attend these meetings and ask the council (in your own words) to keep Pierce County farmland intact. No more pavement on our local farmland. Enough is enough!

Tuesday, October 18, 2011 at 3:00 p.m. (Full Council Hearing)
Hearing will be held at the
County - City Building, Room 1045, 930 Tacoma Ave S, WA

Please contact the below council members asking them not to reintroduce the Sumner UGA amendment that will destroy local farmland

Pierce County Council Contact Information
930 Tacoma Ave S, Rm 1046
Tacoma, WA 98402-2176

District 1 - Dan Roach

Phone: (253) 798-3635

Email: droach@co.pierce.wa.us

District 2 - Joyce McDonald

Phone: (253) 798-6694

Email: joyce.mcdonald@co.pierce.wa.us

District 3 - Roger Bush

Phone (253) 798-6626
Email: rbush@co.pierce.wa.us

District 4 - Timothy Farrell

Phone: (253)798-7590

Email: tfarrel@co.pierce.wa.us

District 5 - Rick Talbert

Phone: (253) 798-6653

Email: rtalbert@co.pierce.wa.us

District 6 - Dick Muri

Phone: (253) 798-3308

Email: dmuri@co.pierce.wa.us

District 7 - Stan Flemming

Phone: (253) 798-6654

Email: cwillis@co.pierce.wa.us

To get information on the County public meeting notice, please go to: http://www.piercecountywa.gov/pc/abtus/ourorg/council/cnclagnpdf.htm