_______________________________________________
ENGROSSED
SUBSTITUTE HOUSE BILL 2305
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AS
AMENDED BY THE SENATE
Passed
Legislature - 2002 Regular Session
State
of Washington 57th Legislature 2002 Regular Session
By
Read
first time 02/08/2002. Referred to Committee on .
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 providing a contingent
effective date.
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). This
section applies only to this chapter, and shall not affect any other authority
of local governments.
(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. The
provisions of this act do not become effective until the earlier of either
January 1, 2004, or the date the department of ecology amends or updates
chapter 173-16 or 173-26 WAC.
