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Councilors debate lowering minimum lot size for agritourism overlay to 1 acre; residents and planners weigh tradeoffs
Summary
Planners described a text amendment to allow the agritourism overlay to be applied to one-acre residential agriculture parcels, prompting council concern about impacts in residential neighborhoods and clarifying that any overlay would still require rezone and public review.
Planning staff presented a text amendment request on March 11 to let one‑acre R‑1A (residential agriculture) lots apply for an agritourism overlay that is currently only available to larger agricultural holdings. Planner Dustin Wright said the overlay is an extra layer applied atop an agricultural zone that permits uses such as commercial tours, educational classes, museums and event halls (with standards and conditional use reviews). He emphasized that an agritourism overlay cannot be applied directly to existing non-agricultural zones: a parcel would first need to rezone to the agricultural zone (A 1), then the overlay could be requested.
Multiple councilors and residents raised concerns, noting there are many one‑acre agricultural-residential parcels inside older neighborhoods. Councilor Becky Bogdan and others said a one‑acre threshold removes a buffer and could allow event centers, bed-and-breakfasts and short-term rentals into residential areas. Staff clarified that the agritourism overlay alone does not automatically permit short-term rentals; short-term rental authority would derive from the underlying agricultural zone through conditional-use review. Saltz/Dustin added that the overlay, if approved, limits the area used for agritourism activities to one‑third of a lot, which staff said reduces the intensity of the use.
Councilors asked about safeguards — for example excluding parcels surrounded on three sides by residential uses, or limiting overlays near schools — and whether a sunset/pilot approach would be possible. Staff said each parcel would go through rezone, staff review, Planning Commission, and council public hearings so neighbors would have a chance to oppose any particular overlay application. Some councilors asked staff to return with specific guardrails (buffers, adjacency tests) if the council wanted to limit one‑acre eligibility in residential neighborhoods.
The amendment was placed on the council’s evening agenda for formal action; staff noted this proposed change was different from typical text amendments because it would apply to properties that are not currently within an existing agricultural zone and therefore creates a new pathway that may influence small urban farms and backyard uses.
