Skagit County residents have until April 15 to weigh in on proposed regulations for agricultural tourism, long a source of controversy in the area.
County officials will discuss whether to greenlight the draft code at a meeting April 28, after the public comment period ends. People can send written comments by mail or email, or attend a hearing April 13 to tell commissioners what they think.
Efforts to hammer out more precise “agritourism” rules in the county stretch back several years, and debate has been heated. Traditional farmers who want to protect agricultural land have found themselves at odds with smaller-scale growers who say they depend on the additional revenue to survive.
Even the definition of agritourism has been difficult to pin down. County Planning Commission deliberations on the issue in January included a back-and-forth on whether to recommend that agritourism must have a “connection” to farming or a “direct connection” (they landed on direct).
The proposed code specifies that “agritourism allows for educational and experiential activities that are related to, and supportive of, agricultural production.”
It notes that such activities “must be secondary and related to an existing agricultural use.” Advocates of this approach call their ethos “Big ‘A,’ little ‘t,’” to emphasize that agriculture comes first over tourism.
Skagit’s existing code allows “activities associated with tourism, which promote local agriculture” on agricultural land. The county’s stated goal for the new regulations is to allow farmers to supplement their income with tourism on their land, and at the same time protect farmland and minimize impacts on neighbors.
A moratorium on new permits for weddings and other events on agricultural land has been in place since January 2024, though businesses that predate the moratorium have been able to continue operations.
Meanwhile, thousands of visitors will make the trip to the county in the coming month for the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, the most prominent agritourism event in the region.
What’s being proposed?
The draft code splits agritourism into three categories, defined by the number of guests attending and how often public events will take place.
The lowest impact type, with a maximum of 50 guests per day and 10 days per year, would be permitted outright as long as operators sign an agreement with the county to comply with the regulations.
Farmers wanting to start larger operations would go through a longer process. To host events up to 35 days a year with a maximum of 100 guests, they would have to apply for an administrative special use permit.
Those permits cost somewhere around $3,000, said Jack Moore, county planning and development services director, at a commissioners’ meeting on Tuesday, March 24.
Would-be agritourism hosts wishing to start holding events with even greater frequency and higher attendance would have to seek approval from the Skagit County Hearing Examiner.
Agritourism operations in the latter two categories would face some additional restrictions, including a requirement that farming on the property generated an average gross income of $500 or more per acre per year for the previous three years.
Under the proposed regulations, whether or not the farmer is profiting from the agritourism activity is irrelevant to the required process.
A previous version of the code would have made an exception to the usual rules for events related to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, allowing 30 extra days for such activity. Planning commissioners recommended that provision be removed due to concerns about fairness.
The proposal would ban certain uses — namely weddings, concerts and restaurants — in zones classified as natural resource lands.
At the meeting Tuesday, commissioner Ron Wesen said he was worried the proposed regulations could negatively affect the Skagit Valley Festival of Family Farms, an annual event in which the public can tour participating farms and learn about agriculture.
The festival is only one weekend a year, Wesen pointed out, adding he was hesitant to require that participating farms spend thousands on permits.
Moore told commissioners he has “some general ideas” to solve that issue, saying he and another employee would work on alternatives.
Submit written comments by mail to 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon or email to pdscomments@co.skagit.wa.us, and include your full name and address in your submission. The comment period closes at 4:30 p.m. on April 15.
You can also voice your opinion at a public hearing on the issue at 1:30 p.m. on April 13, at 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon. Commissioners will hold deliberations on the proposed code at 2:15 p.m. on April 18, at 1800 Continental Place, Mount Vernon.
Sophia Gates, covering rural Whatcom and Skagit counties for Cascadida Daily News, is with the Washington State Murrow Fellowships, a local news program supported by state legislators.
