WEAN to fight board decision in Superior Court

The Whidbey Environmental Action Network is taking Island County back to court over the county’s new rules for farmers.

The Western Washington Growth Management Hearings Board rejected the last of WEAN’s lawsuits against the county in September. WEAN had filed multiple lawsuits with the growth board that claimed the county’s new farming rules did not do enough to protect “critical areas” such as streams and wetlands.

Governments are required to adopt regulations to protect critical areas under the Growth Management Act, the sweeping state law that protects farm and timberland from urban-style development.

WEAN will now challenge the growth board’s decision in Superior Court.

“Obviously we think the hearings board decision was wrong,” said Steve Erickson, a WEAN spokesman.

The appeal was filed in Thurston County Superior Court on Oct. 27.

“Essentially it’s a placeholder. The state Supreme Court currently has a case in front of it that addresses a lot of these issues,” Erickson said.

“We’ll wait to see what the court decides,” he said.

WEAN’s lawsuit against the growth board also named Island County, Don Olson, Rufus Rose, the Island County Property Rights Alliance, the Frei family and Ray Gabelein. Olson and Rose were cited in the lawsuit as members of the Island County Property Rights Alliance, while the others named were involved with the growth board’s earlier review of WEAN’s legal fight to overturn the county’s new critical areas rules for farmers.

“Critical areas” are environmentally sensitive areas such as creeks and wetlands, and the county adopted new regulations for farmers with lands that have critical areas in May.

WEAN challenged the rules, and said the restrictions would do little to prevent farming from hurting the environment.

WEAN’s petition for review was filed by David Bricklin, a Seattle-based attorney who is a well-recognized expert on Growth Management Act issues.

The county’s new rules require farmers to complete farm plans for their agriculture operations.

Farmers must follow “best management practices,” or BMPs, that have been adopted by the National Resource Conservation Service. The NRCS is a federal agency that helps property owners protect soil, water and other natural resources.

Farmers must follow BMPs or complete custom farm plans that detail how they will manage their farms in earth-friendly ways. Small-scale farmers will be need to fill out a checklist, while others will be required to complete custom farm plans.

The county also adopted a surface water monitoring program to test water in watersheds across the county to see if farming operations are hurting water quality after the new rules go into effect.

In a September decision, the growth board rejected WEAN’s view that the new farming rules would reduce buffers – no-go areas around streams and wetlands – in a way that would damage the environment.

WEAN had also disputed the scientific basis used to develop BMPs, but the growth board also rejected that claim.

Phil Bakke, Island County’s planning director, said he had not yet seen the latest WEAN lawsuit.

“I was hoping that we could finally move on and implement the new community-based regs,” Bakke said.

He said the farming rules had been reviewed and widely supported by experts at the state level.

“It’s been blessed by all the state agencies, and was called out by the growth board as being a model ordinance that should be looked at and used by other jurisdictions. And he’s appealing it to court?” Bakke asked.

Brian Kelly can be reached at 221-5300 or bkelly@southwhidbeyrecord.com.