Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use Agritourism topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council amends agritourism/business overlay; planning commission changes adopted
Summary
Council unanimously approved amendments to the Agritourism/Business (ATB) overlay, adding some uses and removing numerical percentage limits while retaining language to preserve agricultural character.
Washington City Council on March 26 approved revisions to the city's agritourism/business overlay (ATB) zone, adopting the Planning Commission's recommendations and voting 5-0 to amend Title 9, Chapter 12D of the city code.
Community Development Director Drew Elamin summarized the applicant's requested changes and the Planning Commission's recommendations. The applicant had sought several edits, including adding "wedding venue (carriage house)" and "recreational/family activities" as permitted uses, striking the development agreement and the ordinance's prior numerical cap on the area devoted to business uses (previously expressed as a percentage of acreage), and changing several definitions and review criteria.
Staff told the Planning Commission it had two main concerns: removing the development-agreement and allowable-area sections would, in staff's view, leave the ordinance without structure. The Planning Commission responded by recommending the applicant's removal of some text but also restoring a sentence that requires "the existing acreage shall be maintained in a manner that is consistent with the farm's main agriculturally productive use or uses and historic condition." The commission voted 5-0 to recommend the council adopt that approach.
Several council members noted the ordinance dated from the mid-2000s and that agritourism practice and land availability have changed since then. Supporters said the revised language retains agricultural protections while providing flexibility for contemporary agritourism uses such as weddings and family agricultural activities.
The council voted to adopt the ordinance amendment incorporating the Planning Commission's recommendations; the vote was unanimous.
Why it matters: The change allows additional agritourism uses in some zoning districts while removing the mechanical calculation of a business-use percentage, replacing it with an emphasis on preserving agricultural character. That shift seeks to enable farm-based events while protecting productive agricultural acreage.
Vote record: Motion to approve ordinance amending City Code Title 9-12D (ATB zone), mover: Councilwoman Caspersen; second: Councilman Ivy; outcome: approved unanimously.
