Orcas -Wednesday, Aug. 26 at 4 p.m. at Eastsound Fire Hall
Lopez – Thursday, August 27 at 4 p.m. at Lopez Library
— from Peggy Bill, County Agriculture Resources Committee Coordinator —
San Juan County 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
Proposed regulations currently being considered include the following:
• a 200ft setback would be required from an adjoining residence
• greenhouse growers would be required to conduct noise tests with fans at full capacity to ensure that decibel levels do not exceed state and county limits
• greenhouse growers would be required to use a blackout cloth for any greenhouse lighting during the night
• a 10ft landscape buffer would be required between a greenhouse and adjoining residence
greenhouses would be allowed outright in agricultural and forest resource lands, and in rural farm forest lands if cumulative area is <10,000 sf.; if >10,000 sf, then a provisional permit is required
• commercial greenhouses would not be allowed in rural residential unless used for residential purposes only and if less than 1500 sf.
If you are a farmer, a future farmer, or a consumer who likes to grow or buy local tomatoes, vegetable starts, and other products grown in greenhouses, this issue should be important to you.
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Creating regulations for agriculture that do not apply to non-agricultural activities does not make sense. We have noise regulations and they can be enforced. If we need nighttime lighting regulations they should apply to security lights and picture windows as well as greenhouses. People moving into farm/forest areas, then complaining about the noise, smell etc of farm/forest activities is an ancient problem. As these islands have a 2500 year agricultural tradition, mostly as a net food export area, I would support regulation that protects agricultural land and the activities necessary to keep it as agricultural land.