Thurston County is in the process of updating its Comprehensive Plan to comply with new state laws, and to account for population growth through the year 2040. Check these pages regularly for upcoming meetings, and newly added draft documents.
Information is available at: https://www.thurstoncountywa.gov/planning/Pages/comp-plan-update.aspx
The Thurston County Agriculture Advisory Committee is deliberating on the plan, and will provide input to the County Commissioners based on their review. The Committee meets the last Thursday of each month from 7pm to 9pm at the WSU Extension Office at the Thurston County Fairgrounds.
Some supplemental information:
- Chapter 3 is the Natural Resource Lands chapter, and includes proposed changes that affect agricultural and forest lands.
- Agriculture or forest land “of commercial significance” is used synonymously with Long-Term Forestry/Agriculture.
- The mineral overlay map is under consideration in the 2019 update. “Co-designation” of mineral and agricultural/forest lands would enable mining on some (approximately 2,000 acres) agricultural lands of commercial significance, otherwise known as those in Long-Term Agriculture. It would also enable mineral extraction on forest lands of commercial significance, or Long-Term Forestry).
- Options A and B (pages 3-24 and 3-25 in the plan update), describe the different options for co-designation of mineral extraction with agriculture and forest lands.
- Option A makes provision to exclude agricultural lands of commercial significance from mineral extraction. Forest land of commercial significance is assumed to be co-designated with mineral extraction in either Option A or Option B, as a result of a legal challenge to the County’s earlier criteria for designating Mineral Lands, which excluded areas designated as Long Term Forestry.
- The acreage of Long-Term Agriculture land in Thurston County amounts to 21% of total agricultural land, or approximately 15,000 acres. This compares to 46%, 49%, 75%, and 83% in Pierce, Snohomish, Whatcom, and Skagit counties, respectively.
- Maps N-1 and N-2 on the Comprehensive Plan Update web page provide maps of agriculture and mineral lands.
- The Thurston County Planning Commission meets the first and third Wednesday of each month at the Thurston County courthouse at 6pm, and accepts public comment on the Comprehensive Plan update. The public can sign up to receive meeting days and topics at this url link.