Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Farmland Legacy Easement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Commissioners approve 10.6-acre addition to Farmland Legacy easement
Summary
Skagit County commissioners voted to approve a Farmland Legacy amendment that adds 10.6 acres to an existing 39.11-acre conservation easement on property now owned by MLC Properties; the added acreage carries the same easement terms and entails no compensation to the owners.
Sarah Stoner, Skagit County’s Agricultural Lands Coordinator, told the board that the Farmland Legacy program is seeking to amend a grant deed of conservation easement between MLC Properties and Skagit County to attach adjacent open farmland to an existing protected parcel.
"The easement seeks to increase by 10.6 acres, the original easement footprint of 39.11 acres," Stoner said, and she explained that the additional land would automatically come under the same easement protections and terms as the existing parcel. She said the original easement entered the program in 2008 and that the program stewards roughly 220 agricultural easements protecting more than 15,000 acres across western Skagit County.
Commissioner Browning asked whether any acreage went to the house on the parcel; Stoner responded that she had not read the legal description but that "it can't be more than an acre." Stoner emphasized that there is no compensation to the landowners for the additional acreage being added to the easement.
The chair requested a motion to approve the miscellaneous consent agenda item. Commissioner Browning moved to approve the amendment; Commissioner Burns seconded. The board voted in favor and the motion passed.
The amendment was presented as a clarification of terms after MLC purchased an adjacent parcel and completed a boundary-line adjustment to isolate the house from the remainder of the farmland. No additional conditions or compensation were recorded in the presentation.
The board returned to the broader consent agenda after the vote; the easement amendment will be processed in county records per standard conveyance procedures.
