Drive along River Road East, down Highway 162 or out Highway 165 toward Carbonado, and you will see some of the rich farmland and forestland that still exists in Pierce County.
Today the residents of Pierce County face a vital question: Develop these lands now or conserve them for future generations?
It may at first seem surprising that a farmer and a developer have joined to write this commentary. But if you think about it, our businesses are not that different. One of us builds homes for our communities, and the other feeds that community.
With the Cascade Agenda and innovative ideas such as Transfer of Development Rights, we can have both – wise, sensible development and conserved lands that maintain our quality of life.
The Pierce County Council has before it now an ordinance to create the landmark structure that allows agriculture, timber and open space to be protected while allowing developers to put more housing where it is appropriate. The ordinance would set up a Transfer and Purchase of Development Rights program in Pierce County.
TDRs are a market-based land use tool. They can become the currency to enable a balance between development and conservation. TDRs provide compensation to resource land owners for their development rights and give developers the opportunity to build more efficiently at densities appropriate to the surrounding urban infrastructure.
Many far-thinking leaders in Pierce County support the idea. Shawn Bunney, Terry Lee and Calvin Goings are the three council co-sponsors of the ordinance. County Executive John Ladenburg and his staff have added positive refinements.
It is a testament to the ordinance’s wide application that these leaders, who often hold divergent viewpoints, are coming together on this program. The support for this legislation speaks to how it brings all sides together for a common purpose and common-sense solutions.
Pierce County can become a leader with this program. It can move from doing business the same way it has done for decades despite the rapid development of the county. Or it can move to the forefront of policies that address the tough questions many citizens are asking of their leaders.
Pierce County continues to lose farmland and working forests at increasing rates. Many of us look at the changes and ask ourselves some troubling questions.
Is this the way Pierce County wants to look into the future? Do we want to lose our beauty and resource economies – the reason why people choose to live here, raise their families and grow their businesses here? Do we want to look like Anywhere USA because we took the easy way rather than the smart way?
TDRs are fair. The rights of property owners are respected, providing them a way to realize the appreciation of real estate values while preserving their way of life.
This program establishes a marketplace to achieve both effective land conservation and affordable homes for our community. It promotes sound use of tax dollars because allowing urban sprawl to the gates of Mount Rainier is too expensive – the costs to county taxpayers will mount for roads, sewers, emergency services, schools and other uses if allowed to grow in an inefficient patchwork.
Making better use of the land we have in our cities and towns means that housing will be more affordable and easier to support in the long term because the infrastructure already exists and people can move to and from job centers more efficiently. This is a market-based approach that allows value to be transferred from important resource lands without developing them to unlock the value.
Development flows to the most logical locations based on comprehensive planning that carefully reflects the infrastructure that will support good development and enable great communities. The price is defined by the market and paid by the market, not the taxpayer.
We’re a home builder and a farmer. We love this region where we both work and live, and we want to make it better. We walk on different sides of the road, but the road is the same – the route that will take us to a Pierce County where landowner, developer, farmer and forest owner all are heading in the same direction.
That direction is a county that is on the leading edge of wise use of its lands, a county that counts the quality of life of all its residents as vital to its future. Pierce County is fortunate that it has County Council leaders who will make Pierce County the county that got it right.
August Solar is a Pierce County farmer. Peter Orser is president of Quadrant Homes.
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