Farm Bureau’s initiative addresses compensation

OLYMPIA – The Washington Farm Bureau filed a property rights initiative Tuesday that would require government agencies to consider how regulation will affect property value.

The initiative, in its early drafting stages, is setting the framework for landowner compensation, said Dan Wood, the Farm Bureau’s director of government relations.

“The first step is to get them to consider the cost of what they’re doing and to find some alternative that won’t damage the use and value,” Wood said. “Ultimately, if they still decide to continue to damage the use and value, they’ll have to compensate.”

Compensation could take place, for example, after an agency demands buffer requirements, habitat designations or zoning restrictions on private properties.

With the early draft, the bureau can get started on collecting the 235,000 signatures it would need by July 7 to get on the ballot. The Farm Bureau’s final version of the initiative will be filed after a meeting of the board of directors in early February.

Despite concerns from environmental groups, Wood said the final measure will simply protect individuals from government.

“Environmentalism is OK,” he said. “But environmentalism on the backs of individuals is not OK.”

Republican state lawmakers introduced two bills last year to compensate property owners for land use decisions that devalue property. A third measure was filed last week that would similarly determine the net loss of value in a property. None of the bills have been considered by committee.

Environmental groups had worried that the Farm Bureau’s initiative would replicate Oregon’s Measure 37, which was approved two years ago by 61 percent of that state’s voters and provided compensation to landowners. But Aisling Kerins, campaign director for the Community Protection Coalition, said that this early filing wasn’t nearly the same initiative.

A circuit court judge struck down Measure 37, citing conflict with both state and federal constitutions. On Jan. 10, the Oregon Supreme Court heard oral arguments on property compensation but has not ruled on the issue.

Kerins said she anticipates that the Farm Bureau’s final version of its initiative may be similar to Measure 37 – which would be a problem, she said.

“It really creates loopholes for developers at the expense of the little guy – the taxpayers,” Kerins said of Measure 37. “The government has to choose between protecting (its) communities from irresponsible development and growth or pay out millions of dollars.”

Kerins also said that only major corporations, such as the timber industry, will benefit from a Measure 37-type initiative.

The Community Protection Coalition specializes in growth management and land protection. The Farm Bureau is a nonprofit advocacy group for family farmers.