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Skagit County holds hearing on agritourism moratorium extension; public comment remains open
Summary
The county held a public hearing on extending an interim moratorium on permanent permit applications for certain agritourism and event uses on agricultural lands; commissioners closed the hearing but left written comment open until June 25, with a decision scheduled July 7.
Skagit County Planning and Development Services on June 23 held a public hearing on a proposed extension of an interim ordinance that places a temporary moratorium on accepting permanent permit applications for certain regular public-event uses and activities on lands zoned agricultural and rural limited (AG and RL).
Tara Satushek, a planner with the department, said the county previously adopted an earlier moratorium (Ordinance 2025-01) that prohibited acceptance of permit applications for ongoing public events on AG and RL lands and that the current moratorium is set to expire July 14, 2025. She told the board the moratorium provides staff and the planning commission time to develop permanent regulations to address perceived deficiencies in the current code related to agritourism and events.
Satushek described a voluntary pathway that had been provided earlier for existing venues to document nonconforming uses via administrative compliance agreements and said staff convened a community advisory group including Tulip Festival and other local stakeholders to develop options for special-use and temporary-event code language.
Why it matters: County planners said the existing rules do not clearly protect agricultural lands from conversion or regular non-agricultural events that could displace farming uses. Staff noted the state Department of Commerce has prepared an agritourism study draft and other counties' approaches are under review to inform Skagit's direction.
Procedure and next steps: The board closed the in-person public hearing but voted to keep the written comment period open until 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, June 25. The board is scheduled to consider a possible extension of the interim ordinance at its July 7 meeting at 9:30 a.m. in the commissioners' chambers.
Ending: Planning staff said extended time will allow drafting of clearer, implementable code language for special events and agritourism that balances protection of agricultural lands with existing rural tourism activities.
