Moratorium set for maximum 182 days

Two weeks after Washington County’s Board of Commissioners declared a 182-day moratorium on A1 zoned agricultural property development on a 2-1 vote, Commissioners Jim Harberd and Nate Marvin each signed the official effective ordinance on Monday, June 9, while Commissioner Gordon Wilkerson withheld his signature in dissent.

 Harberd read the page and a-half ordinance into the record that morning, a week later than what had originally been anticipated. The additional week’s time allowed the board to confer with and have Prosecuting Attorney True Pearce compile the final ordinance to include clarifications on its scope and duration.

 The moratorium temporarily stops the acceptance, processing or approval of any application or request for land use development or land division of A1-zoned agricultural property in the county.

 The ordinance states the commissioners’ basis for the moratorium through a declaration of imminent peril from inconsistent development, the burdens arising therefrom on county infrastructure, and, in turn, resulting in an imminent peril to public health, safety, and welfare.

 There have been recent reports from the county’s Road and Bridge Department of unpermitted driveway accesses being built along county roads, as well as building construction taking place without state-required building permits through the county’s building inspector.

 The ordinance includes a short list of exemptions to which the moratorium won’t apply: applications previously approved prior to May 27, 2025; applications submitted pursuant to and in accordance with a binding settlement agreement approved by the Board; and subdivisions or development on A2 agricultural zoned land.

 Because more than one duration for the moratorium had been offered during the May 27 discussion and decision, the final ordinance clarifies it to remain in effect for 182 days from the date it was approved by motion, but leaves leeway for the Board to repeal it when they are satisfied the county’s ordinances are updated and clarified. 

 Wilkerson repeated his opposition to imposing the moratorium, stating he would be voting against it.

 “I have been instructed by our legal counsel that it is unlawful and not structured properly,” Wilkerson said.

 This isn’t the first time a moratorium has been put in place in an attempt to keep the area’s agricultural production and economic base intact.

 From the Signal American’s archives, the summer of 1996 found similar concerns surrounding a rapid division of farm ground on the Weiser Flat. At the time, the zoning code allowed for a five-acre minimum lot size allowed within original parcel land splits, a size considered too small for viable farm production, but just right for country-style living.

 The county commissioners were unanimous in imposing a 120-day moratorium limiting split sizes to 40 acres as a stopgap measure while the Planning and Zoning Commission finished some revisions to the zoning code, as well as beginning work on updating the county’s near 20-year-old comprehensive plan.

 The revised ordinances were undone by the legal pitfall of not having the comp plan updated ahead of the new codes. Learning from legal challenges experienced in other counties, the comprehensive plan takes precedence, the commissioners repealed the moratorium ahead of its 120-day deadline.

 Washington County’s current comprehensive plan was approved and adopted in July, 2020. Comprehensive plans are typically recommended to be updated every 10 years.