Skagit County holds public hearing on agritourism code amendments; farmers and tourism groups urge different fixes

Skagit County planning staff on April 13 presented proposed agritourism code amendments and opened a public hearing that drew farmers, tourism officials and advocacy groups to voice competing concerns about event limits, fees and protections for Agricultural Natural Resource Lands (Ag NRL).

Jack Moore of Planning and Development Services described the draft code’s central features: a new agritourism definition, three event levels based on attendance and frequency, performance standards focused on impacts (traffic, noise, on-site parking) and a voluntary compliance agreement pathway for existing operations established before a January 2024 moratorium. Robbie (planning staff) said Level 1 would allow up to 10 events with no more than 50 people; Level 2 would allow up to 34 events with no more than 100 people and would require an administrative special use permit; Level 3 would use the standard hearing-examiner special use process.

"We focused on impacts and not necessarily other criteria such as ticket sales or revenue," Moore told the board. He said staff is tracking voluntary compliance agreements (VCAs) for earlier operations and that operations not pursuing compliance could be subject to administrative abatement.

Public commenters raised several recurring points. Jessica Benson of A.K. Elder Farm said the draft contains ambiguous language that could put small farms at risk and specifically asked for objective, measurable standards rather than rule language that singles out events ("weddings") by name. She warned that a proposed $500-per-acre income threshold could force farms to forego events that help them remain viable.

Kristen Keltz, CEO of the Skagit Tourism Bureau, said agritourism is a key tool for sustaining working farms and urged the county to preserve flexibility and consider performance standards (parking, traffic, site capacity) rather than rigid attendance caps. Matthew Rosenthal, president of the Skagit Valley Lodging Association, urged allowing limited event venues with clear conditions, saying such events ripple through the local economy by increasing hotel stays and restaurant business.

Terry Gifford, whose Willowbrook Manor operation relies on agritourism, said VCAs are expensive and burdensome and recounted that a nearby venue closed because of compliance costs; he and others described the VCA route as difficult for small operators. Celeste Frisbie urged special consideration for one-off educational events (school field trips) and suggested measuring some attendance impacts by bus capacity to reduce car traffic. Ellen Bynum (Friends of Skagit County) recommended changing the phrase "limited event venues" to "limited events" to focus on activities rather than places and asked that VCAs be located in code or 9.08 so they are discoverable. Terry Sapp, representing the Agricultural Advisory Board, urged adoption of the proposal as a starting point with refinements to follow; several agricultural-advocacy speakers supported adopting the code now and improving details later.

Staff gave several practical clarifications: an administrative special use permit fee was described as roughly $2,000–$3,000 (one commenter said $2,000, staff said $3,000-something), and Moore said the county would pursue Title 9.08 code work to accommodate single-weekend events like the Festival of Family Farms so those events could be regulated as temporary events rather than regular agritourism uses. The public comment period remains open through April 15 at 4:30 p.m.; commissioners scheduled deliberations on April 28 at 2:15 p.m.

The board did not take a final vote at the hearing.