San Juan County food system plan finished; team asks council to retain comp‑plan policy and back implementation steps

San Juan County’s food system planning team presented a finished 10‑year food system plan to the County Council on June 9, 2025, and asked the council to preserve a proposed comprehensive‑plan climate policy (policy C4.6) and to consider actions that help move selected strategies from plan to practice.

Caitlin Leck, the county food‑system coordinator, said the plan is the product of extensive community engagement and organized five goals: scale up local food production; steward land and enhance ecosystems; ensure access to healthy food; reduce and transform waste; and grow community connections. Leck said the plan contains roughly 100 strategies and a 10‑year planning horizon (to 2035) and that staff will work with community organizations to distill the plan into tailored, organization‑level short lists for implementation.

The food system team urged the council to retain policy C4.6 in the draft comprehensive‑plan climate element. Leck said that policy reads in essence: support development of local food production, processing and storage infrastructure while implementing the San Juan County food system plan to enhance food security and climate‑resilient agriculture. The team identified county roles that would materially advance plan goals: continued support for the county land bank and land access efforts; backing local food‑access initiatives such as Fresh Bucks; establishing island composting infrastructure; and funding or sustaining staff positions that coordinate implementation activities (for example, the agricultural resources committee coordinator, SNAP‑Ed staff and WSU extension roles).

Council members welcomed the plan and asked about prioritization, alignment with the county comprehensive plan update, funding needs and short‑term actions that could be implemented quickly (for example, composting and food‑waste reductions). Council members asked staff to work with county departments (planning, public works, health, finance) to identify where multiple departments could collaborate on priorities and to return with suggested next steps and funding considerations. Staff noted recent state grants and community investments (including a Lopez Island food center award) that could be leveraged alongside county support.

No council formal action was taken at the meeting; the food system team said it will coordinate with county staff and the agricultural resources committee to prepare prioritized short lists for council consideration and to work on grant and budget strategies for implementation.