An ambitious effort to save Pierce County’s vanishing open spaces is getting its first test on two modest family tree farms.
The nonprofit Cascade Land Conservancy recently bought the development rights to the farms, allowing the family owners to profit from the land while preserving its agricultural use.
The transactions are a milestone for a two-year-old Pierce County program that seeks to harness real estate market forces to promote conservation. And while significant hurdles remain, advocates say the program one day will influence development not just in unincorporated Pierce County, but in Tacoma’s neighborhood business districts and other urban areas.
Preserving the county’s remaining farmland, timberland and other open space has become a higher priority in recent years as housing and commercial developments spread. The county lost an average of 1,900 acres of farmland a year from 2002 to 2007, according to the U.S. Agricultural Census.
In 2007 the County Council approved a “transfer of development rights” program. It allows the owners of farmland and certain other kinds of open space to sell the development rights to their property and establishes a bank from which developers can buy those rights.
By selling development rights, small farmers and other landowners can profit from their land without selling it outright to a company that might convert it to houses or businesses.
The landowners can continue to farm or otherwise use the property. And developers get credits they can use to increase the density of developments in unincorporated urban areas of the county.
Ryan Mello, Pierce County conservation director for the Cascade Land Conservancy, said the result is a “dynamic marketplace” that creates an incentive to preserve open spaces.
That’s the theory. Now the land conservancy is testing it here and elsewhere.
The conservancy developed Pierce County’s program, modeling it on similar programs around the country.
The conservancy has preserved 800 acres of family owned forests in three counties using transfer of development rights programs, including two tree farms in Pierce County.
This summer the conservancy bought the 64-acre Soler Forest near South Prairie and – in conjunction with the Nisqually Land Trust – the 24-acre Van Eaton Forest near Eatonville. Using money from a state grant, the nonprofit spent $987,000 to buy the development rights to those two properties, public records show.
The families have owned and harvested timber on the land for decades. But housing developments have encroached on both properties.
County zoning laws would have allowed the Soler tree farm to be converted to 13 home sites. Up to 24 homes would be permitted on the Van Eaton property. But the families wanted a different outcome.
“Everybody wants to sell their land for development and make the big bucks,” said Jerry Soler. “But that wasn’t our goal. We wanted to preserve the forest.”
The Soler property is blanketed with Douglas fir trees. Deer, elk and other wildlife call it home. It shelters nearby South Prairie Creek and offers pleasing scenery to people using the Foothills Trail.
Soler grew up on a farm adjacent to the property and still visits sometimes. “It’s quiet, just getting out of town,” he said.
The family sold the development rights to the forest but still owns the property. The family will still be able to enjoy it and profit from timber sales.
Buying the development rights to the tree farms has given the Cascade Land Conservancy credits it hopes to sell to a developer. But the details of how such a transaction would work are incomplete.
In theory, the agency will be able to sell to a developer who wants to exceed building density and height limits in, for example, one of Tacoma’s neighborhood business districts. But hurdles remain.
While developers can use credits in unincorporated Pierce County, Tacoma and other cities must strike agreements with the county before developers could use transfer credits for projects in the cities.
Local builders support the concept of the program but want more details, said Tiffany Speir, government affairs director for the Master Builders Association of Pierce County.
The county’s efforts to launch the program also have been hindered by budget constraints. And a program that relies on the real estate market may have to wait until the market recovers to become fully operational.
“I think it’s a large task that we’ve set for ourselves to set up a market,” said Councilman Shawn Bunney, R-Lake Tapps.
But the county will require anyone asking for certain zoning changes to buy transfer of development rights credits. Mello believes that will create a ready market of developers who want to buy the credits.
Mello said the land conservancy hopes to sell its credits to a developer as soon as next year. He sees it as a good deal for all involved.
“We have conserved productive forest lands,” Mello said. “We have helped land owners receive value for their property and Pierce County continues to be at the forefront of sophisticated land-use policy.”
David Wickert: 253-274-7341
david.wickert@thenewstribune.com
blogs.thenewstribune.com/politics
