Plan balances growth, farmland
Source: TheNewsTribune.com, by Mike Archbold
November 16, 2007
Compromise still would let Sumner, Bonney Lake and Orting expand
A key committee of the Pierce County Council heard a compromise Thursday that might lead to final approval of a controversial growth plan in the Orting Valley.
The proposal identifies three joint planning areas, totaling 1,356 acres, inside the larger Alderton-McMillin Community Plan. They would allow Sumner, Bonney Lake and Orting to expand their urban boundaries, although Sumner in particular wouldn’t be able to grow the way it envisioned.
Details of how the joint planning areas would work are still under discussion, according to Pierce County senior planner Chip Vincent.
He outlined the proposal to the council’s Community Development Committee during a public hearing on the plan.
“The goal is no net loss of farmland,” Vincent said afterward.
Committee members listened but commented little after the presentation.
Chairman Calvin Goings said the proposal would take some time to be acted upon. He continued the hearing until Monday at 10 a.m.
The compromise surfaced after Pierce County Executive John Ladenburg threatened in August to veto the Alderton-McMillin Community Plan as amended by the council because it would sharply cut farmland.
One of the council amendments would have removed more than 100 acres of farmland south of Sumner, known as Orton Farms, from designation as agricultural resource land (ARL). Another change would have established a process to withdraw other ARL acreage near Bonney Lake, Sumner and Orting for possible development.
Vincent said he thinks the joint planning areas would help farmers, cities and developers.
Kathy Fewings, a spokesman for Investco, which owns Orton Farms, told the committee Thursday that the company thinks the compromise proposal “is a great opportunity for us. Investco is committed to a no net-loss of agricultural lands” in the plan area.
Under the proposal, only 5 acres of Orton Farms would be in the joint planning area south of Sumner. The land south of that area would stay in current use.
Vincent said Investco has indicated it would redesignate a couple other smaller parcels it owns in the area as agricultural resource zoning.
The Alderton-McMillin Community Plan has been in the works since 2004 and has become a battleground for preservation of dwindling farmland in East Pierce County.
Vincent said the proposal outlines policies that must be followed in each joint planning area if the cities wish to expand their urban growth boundaries there.
In all three areas, each city would have to collaborate with the county to adopt a joint land-use designation with such controls as zoning and design standards.
Property owners in the Bonney Lake and Orting areas could be eligible to sell development rights to remain agricultural.
SUMNER
Vincent said the size of the proposed joint planning area is much smaller than Sumner city officials have talked about for expansion, but it does allow for some growth.
All properties zoned Agriculture Resource Land inside the joint planning area couldn’t be changed unless a similarly sized area of rural land were reclassified ARL.
The proposal would create conservation easements adjacent to the Sumner joint planning area, which would keep ARL acreage in farming and limit urban expansion.
Sumner Mayor Dave Enslow said the prospect of restricting the city’s growth to the south isn’t one he likes.
“But I guess we will have to live with it,” he said.
BONNEY LAKE
All of Bonney Lake’s joint planning area would be on top of the plateau, not on the steep valley slopes or in the valley itself.
One caveat is that development would have to be set back at least 300 feet from the edge of the plateau to protect rural views from the valley, Vincent said.
Bonney Lake and the county would have to agree to a process for annexing urban areas on the plateau.
John Vodopich, the city’s community development director, said the city isn’t opposed to joint planning with the county.
ORTING
Vincent said the joint planning area for Orting is an effort to allow the primarily residential city to have an employment center.
The joint planning area would extend north through the Riverbend and High Cedars developments to include a rural industrial center proposed in the Alderton-McMillin plan.
There are no ARL properties inside this joint planning area.
