Urban and Rural Disparities (12/06/00)

1. Do you think that such a gap is widening in the area of your agency's jurisdiction? Has your agency (or any other agency with which you are familiar) conducted research concerning a comparison between the urban and rural residents' quality of life in Washington State?
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2. We would be grateful to receive any real-world examples to address the following premises (if possible, please give us any examples from the area of your agency's jurisdiction):

a. Is it true that agricultural land prices are declining, and promoting farmland conversion? If so, do local governments, or residents, agree with the GMA farmland preservation goal?

b. At the urban fringe, to what degree do farmers want to sell their land to the developers? If so, what is the planners' role in this situation?

c. According to one hypothesis, prices are becoming cheaper in rural areas, and therefore the rich urban dwellers are buying up large lots (5 or 10+ acres) to build ranchettes or hobby farms? Do you know whether this phenomenon exists in your area, and if so, to what extent? Also, and if so, are there conflicts between established residents and newcomers?
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3. Do you have Purchased Development Rights and/or Transferable Development Rights programs in your area? If so, are they working effectively to preserve agricultural land?
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4. Some argue that the GMA is primarily responsible for these growing disparities between urban and rural areas, and that this problem will threaten the long-term survival of the Act. What is your opinion of this view?
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B. Collins
City of Port Angeles
I don't perceive a widening gap, which has existed throughout the 20th century and no.

K. Kuhn
Pend Oreille County
If you are asking--is the gap widening within Pend Oreille County--then my answer would be framed by some general economic information, some of which is available from the Washington Data Book. This county has historically had very high unemployment, in part due to the seasonal nature of the logging industry. Recent unemployment figures have improved. Per wageearner earnings are high here, but per capita is low. There may be a multi-generational situation in some areas here that continues to nurture welfare dependency. I do not know if such a gap is widening within the county. On a statewide basis, it was noted recently that the largest economic gap between any two counties in a given state, however that was measured, was between King and Pend Oreille.

In terms of quality of life, there are rural residents here who lack water and/or sewer systems, live in very substandard housing, and even lack dependable transportation to get to a job if they have one. This is not the norm, however. How are you measuring quality of life? Our agency has done no comparison research on this subject.

a. Is it true that agricultural land prices are declining, and promoting farmland conversion? If so, do local governments, or residents, agree with the GMA farmland preservation goal?

b. At the urban fringe, to what degree do farmers want to sell their land to the developers? If so, what is the planners' role in this situation?

S. Croft
Spokane County
I'll speak from my former experience on the Ferry County Planning Commission. For those who don't know, Ferry County is about as rural as you could get, with actually no truly urban segment to speak of. It is the most sparsely populated county in the state. The only incorporated town has about 1,000 people in it. There is no stop light in the entire county. The total county population is about 7,000. About 90% of it is either state forest or Colville Indian Reservation. The traditional industries are ranching, logging, and gold mining. It is a very poor county, but extremely beautiful. But as they say, "you can't eat scenery."

Two main things come to mind:

* Farming is dying out as a way of being able to earn a viable living. Especially ranching. However, for many it is their "custom, culture and heritage" (Wise Use lingo), and therefore part and parcel of their identity. This means that they want two things: They want some structure (but not necessarily "planning" or "regulations", which they resent) that will help them stay in business farming as long as possible. Then, when they get ready to retire, they don't want any structure at all, so they are free to subdivide their property and sell it off to finance their retirement. (The only hitch to this approach in Ferry County is that the economy is so slow, people are not exactly moving there in droves, so property doesn't sell.)
* Oldtimers always resent newcomers. Mostly it's because of the age old dance that occurs: the newcomers move there because they like the way it looks and feels. But they bring with them some of the things they were trying to escape, thus making it more like where they came from, and also putting pressure on the oldtimers to give up their old ways.

You will hear this same message from every single rural area you survey.

B. Collins
City of Port Angeles
a) Yes; Yes but not enough to have voted for a bond issue to purchase development rights for farmland preservation (Clallam County bond vote in mid 1990's)
b) Some do and some don't; To include agricultural land preservation policies in GMA compliant local comprehensive plans and develop programs that can implement such policies. To support private land trusts as complementary to regulatory and public land purchase approaches.
c) Yes; Significant portion of new population; Yes but not a big deal for most people at this time.

K. Kuhn
Pend Oreille County
a) Anecdotal evidence points to a slow appreciation of agricultural land values here. Some ag land in the south of the county, adjacent to and near north Spokane County, is being converted into 5- and 10-acre residential parcels as Spokane County residents seek more space within commuting distance of the Spokane metro area. (Approximately 40% of county residents who are wageearners work out of the county.) There is quite a number of older farmers who definitely agree with the GMA farmland preservation goal, but they are retiring and leaving their operations to the next generation that is sometimes not so attached to the farm life. Local residents seem split on the importance of preserving ag land--it's not on their list of concerns.
b) The only large area of ag land on the "urban" fringe is near Cusick, about 20 miles northwest of Newport. At this time Cusick is not growing nor does there appear to be pressure to convert the ag land in the Cusick Flats. If there were such pressure to sell, the planner would be up against prevailing sentiment for people to profit from the sale of their private property in just about any way they see fit.
c) Some of this question is answered above, but some folks with money have acquired larger than 10-acre parcels, usually near the Pend Oreille River, and have constructed large homes. I do not believe land prices are becoming cheaper here, except perhaps relative to rate of appreciation of land in the urban areas. Regarding conflicts between established residents and newcomers--that is a big deal here. Unless you were born here you will never be completely accepted. Overt conflicts are not so evident. Most differences show up in conversations about newcomers wanting to change that way things are done here, in matters ranging from street maintenance in the towns to conduct in public meetings to enforcing county ordinances.

B. Collins
City of Port Angeles
Yes but not a big deal for most people at this time; No, since there is little problem getting the density without purchasing development rights at this time.

K. Kuhn
Pend Oreille County
We do not have these tools. Present senior staff consider these tools to be too demanding of limited staff time to implement. Then there is the problem of how to finance such programs.

B. Collins
City of Port Angeles
I believe just the opposite that GMA will help even the playing field for development in urban and rural areas, certainly for development requirements and likely for economic equity in the long run. If you review my answer to question #1, I think it is a myth to say that the attractiveness of urban areas is just now depressing rural development. This disparity existed long before GMA.

K. Kuhn
Pend Oreille County
I think that opponents of the comprehensive planning legislation in the state, unfortunately named the GMA, will continue leave no stone unturned in their attempt to discredit and eventually overturn the GMA. Disparities between rural and urban Washington State have roots that certainly go back well before the passage of the GMA. Just how the GMA would be responsible for the apparently growing disparities is a problematic issue. Have you the main tenets of this argument? Is it possible to have an honest and open public discussion on the issue?

Jurisdictions that adopt well thought out comprehensive plans that reflect their situations have a guide that ought to begin to remove the good-old-boy nature of politics, and replace it with more objective decision-making mechanisms which can help make that comp plan an outline for better management of that jurisdiction's resources. Many small and rural jurisdictions are simply not accustomed to doing things that way, yet.