H-2933.1  _______________________________________________

                          HOUSE BILL 2305

          _______________________________________________

State of Washington      57th Legislature     2002 Regular Session

By Representatives Hatfield, Doumit, Kessler, Grant, Kirby, Edwards and Linville

Read first time 01/14/2002.  Referred to Committee on Local Government & Housing.

Clarifying the application of shoreline master program guidelines and master programs to agricultural activities on agricultural lands.

    AN ACT Relating to clarifying the application of shoreline master program guidelines and master programs to agricultural activities on agricultural lands; adding a new section to chapter 90.58 RCW; and declaring an emergency.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:

NEW SECTION. Sec. 1.  A new section is added to chapter 90.58 RCW to read as follows:

    (1) The guidelines adopted by the department and master programs developed or amended by local governments according to RCW 90.58.080 shall not require modification of or limit agricultural activities occurring on agricultural lands.  In jurisdictions where agricultural activities occur, master programs developed or amended after the effective date of this act shall include provisions addressing new agricultural activities on land not meeting the definition of agricultural land, conversion of agricultural lands to other uses, and development not meeting the definition of agricultural activities.  Nothing in this section limits or changes the terms of the current exception to the definition of substantial development in RCW 90.58.030(3)(e)(iv).

    (2) For the purposes of this section:

    (a) "Agricultural activities" means agricultural uses and practices including, but not limited to:  Producing, breeding, or increasing agricultural products; rotating and changing agricultural crops; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie fallow in which it is plowed and tilled but left unseeded; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant as a result of adverse agricultural market conditions; allowing land used for agricultural activities to lie dormant because the land is enrolled in a local, state, or federal conservation program, or the land is subject to a conservation easement; conducting agricultural operations; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural equipment; maintaining, repairing, and replacing agricultural facilities, provided that the replacement facility is no closer to the shoreline than the original facility; and maintaining agricultural lands under production or cultivation;

    (b) "Agricultural products" includes but is not limited to horticultural, viticultural, floricultural, vegetable, fruit, berry, grain, hops, hay, straw, turf, sod, seed, and apiary products; feed or forage for livestock; Christmas trees; hybrid cottonwood and similar hardwood trees grown as crops and harvested within twenty years of planting; and livestock including both the animals themselves and animal products including but not limited to meat, upland finfish, poultry and poultry products, and dairy products;

    (c) "Agricultural equipment" and "agricultural facilities" includes, but is not limited to:  (i) The following used in agricultural operations:  Equipment; machinery; constructed shelters, buildings, and ponds; fences; upland finfish rearing facilities; water diversion, withdrawal, conveyance, and use equipment and facilities including but not limited to pumps, pipes, tapes, canals, ditches, and drains; (ii) corridors and facilities for transporting personnel, livestock, and equipment to, from, and within agricultural lands; (iii) farm residences and associated equipment, lands, and facilities; and (iv) roadside stands and on-farm markets for marketing fruit or vegetables; and

    (d) "Agricultural land" means those specific land areas on which agriculture activities are conducted.

    (3) The department and local governments shall assure that local shoreline master programs use definitions consistent with the definitions in this section.

NEW SECTION. Sec. 2.  This act is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety, or support of the state government and its existing public institutions, and takes effect immediately.

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