Wednesday, August 26, from 4-5:30 at the Eastsound Firehall
— by Sandy Strehlou —
Dear Friends of Local Agriculture:
I am writing to encourage you to attend one of the following meetings on the proposed greenhouse regs. The San Juan Island meeting is [Tuesday] afternoon at Brickworks. There will be meetings on Orcas and Lopez too. (See schedule below.) It is critical that county residents understand what is being proposed and the potential impacts. The regs are complicated, so a meeting like this is a great way to find out what its all about. My belief is that the county’s consumers will play a crucial role in determining how this plays out. Please come.
— from the Agricultural Resource Committee:
SJC Council is currently considering adoption of new regulations that would be applied to greenhouses and temporary growing structures including hoop houses. Draft regulations considered by Council address siting, performance standards, scale and other issues. The draft regulations are attached below.
The proposed regulations reflect a fundamental shift from supporting and promoting agriculture in the county, to “protecting” residences and the landscape from the “impacts” of farming. The issue of greenhouse production arose following conflicts between a marijuana production facility and neighbors who complained that they were impacted by the noise of the fans, lighting, odor, and aesthetics. As a result, Council requested regulations for marijuana production to address those impacts, and also requested regulations for greenhouse production for other crops.
The Agricultural Resources Committee (ARC) will be presenting information about the proposed regulations for greenhouses. If this issue is important to you, please join us at one of the following meetings.
San Juan Island, Tuesday, August 25th, from 4-5:30, at Brickworks
Orcas Island, Wednesday, August 26th, from 4-5:30 at the Eastsound Firehall
Lopez Island, Thursday, August 27th, from 4-5:30 at Lopez Library
Thanks for reminder! This is a great opportunity to get educated and learn what we can do to help ensure our islands are vibrant, mixed use, sustainable, and economically diverse communities- instead of becoming little more than a haven for the wealthy who want to insulate themselves from the complications and minor inconveniences of living as part of a small island community. I know our Orcas Island County Councilman has taken a strong stand on this (thank you Rick!)- maybe there’s a chance to convince his two compatriots to stop siding with the property rights folks and do something to support actual working islanders.
One problem is that the state legislature, in its wisdom, defined marijuana as NOT agriculture. That being the case, I’m not sure why our existing practices need to change. (The most publicized case, on San Juan, turned not on these issues, but rather the terms of a road easement.) But this is a property rights issue–the farmers have a right to farm–so I’m confused about the equation of property rights advocates with “the wealthy . . . insulting themselves” from rural life.