(1) A Vision for Rural Lands in the Eastern Straits Regional Planning Area. We envision the rural lands in the Straits planning area as a scenic patchwork of large open fields and woodlots interspersed with rural homesteads and serviced by neighborhood/tourist commercial clusters. Neighborhood/tourist commercial clusters are located at their present positions along the highway and have blended into the rural environment through the application of landscaping standards and rural design guidelines which emphasize the preservation of rural views. Recreational uses which promote open space values are encouraged to locate in rural areas along major highways to improve scenic vistas and buffer residential uses. Overly rigid development patterns which saw large areas of land divided up into uniform lot sizes with no provisions for intervening larger lot sizes or open space have largely been replaced by a more natural rural low density/mixed use development pattern in rural lands. This Comprehensive Plan designation encourages land owners to create a variety of lot sizes ranging from one-half acre residential lots to forty (40) acre woodlots and pastures. Allowing for a variety of lot sizes without increasing existing densities allows farmsteads, woodlots and affordable housing options to coexist in the same general area providing much more choice, affordability and variety than that which existed under uniform development patterns. The County’s strategy for preserving rural character has focused on preserving productive rural open spaces, maintaining a diversity of lot sizes, allowing rural growth to occur on smaller lots without increasing current densities and concentrating rural commercial enterprises at existing locations along highways.

A clear boundary exists between rural and urban areas. Average density in the rural areas is less than one home per five (5) acres. Rural low density/mixed use and rural character conservation land use designations have been established in the rural areas which has allowed rural character to be preserved far into the future rather than allowing it to gradually degrade with development, as was occurring prior to adoption of the new Comprehensive Plan in 1994. Several preexisting urban density developments are found within the rural area. Infill development within these suburban pockets is encouraged. Many of the agricultural and open space resource lands have been permanently protected through purchase of development rights, rural low density/mixed use open space agreements and conservation easements. Forest resource lands, farms and important open space resource lands first identified in 1992 and 1993 remain in resource use.

Critical areas in the rural portion of the County are protected and environmental enhancement projects have restored many acres of wetlands and miles of steams to salmon runs. Both the Comprehensive Plan and its implementing ordinances recognize the need to allow natural systems to be the key determinant of planning and land use activity. Incentive-based programs and ordinances seek to link, protect and enhance natural systems through appropriate zoning, conservation easements, covenants or other innovative means. Structures, roads and utility systems are placed in such a way as to minimize the alteration of the landscape and to preserve the operation of the natural systems and wildlife corridors. Water is clean and abundant due to conservation efforts. Careful stewardship has ensured the conservation of our land, air, water and energy resources for future generations and has enhanced present day property values and public safety.

(2) Rural Land Use Issues. The Growth Management Act defines rural lands by identifying them as the areas which are not urban growth areas and are not identified for long term commercial production of agriculture, forest, and mineral resources. The intent of the Growth Management Act is that “rural lands” and what constitutes “rural character” are to be defined at the local level. Sprawling, estate-type lots, which are too small for woodlots or small-scale agricultural uses are to be discouraged in rural areas.

It has been maintained by land use researchers in Washington that, “A new rural sprawl is consuming large amounts of land, splitting wide open spaces into fragments that are useless for agriculture, wildlife habitat, or other rural open space purposes.” Since the Growth Management Act requires the control of sprawl, this term must be defined. Sprawl development has the following characteristics:

The Clallam County County-wide Planning Policies provide guidance to the densities which are not rural in character. These policies identify a density of one unit per acre as urban/suburban indicating that one acre per home densities without offsetting provision of open space would not be considered as “rural” in character. Several locally conducted visual preference surveys, questionnaires and comments at various public meetings indicate that many local residents think of rural lands as areas exhibiting low residential densities (one home per five (5) acres or less) that provide a mixture of rural land uses. Local residents indicate that rural land uses include farms, woodlots, and natural open spaces which are clearly distinguished from urban/suburban areas that are characterized by uniform lot sizes, lack of open areas and higher densities. The County-wide Planning Policies also indicate that maximum densities should be set for areas outside of urban growth areas, provide that the County’s Comprehensive Plan shall permit only those land uses that are compatible with the rural character of such lands and that the rural element provide for a variety of rural densities and development patterns, including the use of cluster housing concepts to encourage conservation of open space and resource lands. Lastly, the County-wide Planning Policies suggest that rural areas abutting urban growth areas should provide for reduced densities or cluster development options in order to allow for future expansion of urban areas.

The Straits Region current “rural character” is characterized large open spaces, small communities and pockets of concentrated residential development along the Straits of Juan de Fuca. Residential communities are separated by large contiguous areas of forest resource lands and a highly mixed rural development pattern of diverse lot sizes and land uses. “Rural character” consists not only of the visual appeal of farms, woodlots and homes but also encompasses people, their culture, traditional uses of natural resources and private property. Most people in the Eastern Straits Region live on parcels of five (5) or more acres in size and many directly or indirectly derive their income from timber, fishing, tourism and other industries that utilize natural resources. Many of those that commute to other areas for employment use their property for woodlots or small farming activities. The common threads that bind the community are a close attachment to the land and water, a commitment to good stewardship of resources, and a belief in self sufficiency and self determination.

The vision statement for rural lands in the Straits Region establishes the twenty (20) year vision for retaining rural character. Drawing from the vision statement “rural character” is defined as a scenic patchwork of large open fields and woodlots interspersed with rural homesteads and serviced by neighborhood/tourist commercial clusters at existing locations. Density is less than one home per five (5) acres and uniform lot sizes developed over large areas are not encouraged. Rural character conservation and rural low density/mixed use designations would be established to ensure that rural lot sizes of five (5) acres or larger are interspersed throughout the rural area and that rural character could be maintained far into the future.

(3) Current Trends. Achieving the goals of the State Legislature contained in the Growth Management Act will require many changes to current County policies and regulations. Current policies, regulations and market structure encourage people to locate in rural areas while at the same time allowing development to occur in patterns which diminish the very character of the area that caused people to move there in the first place. Many studies document the trend of recent development practices to divide the landscape into uniform residential lots at densities in between traditional urban and rural densities leading to what the legislature defined as sprawl. This is certainly the case in Clallam County where the landscape is rapidly being divided into one acre, 2.4 acre, and five (5) acre lot sizes. These individual lots contain some private open area but with no significant open areas between development. Land use studies show that there are already many vacant parcels in these size ranges which could meet much of the land demand need for this type of lot size over the next twenty (20) years.

During the past ten (10) years, the unincorporated or rural areas of the Straits Region have experienced most of the decade’s growth. It appears that many people moving to this County are looking for a rural lifestyle and do not see much advantage to choosing to live in urban areas. These rural growth trends and the pattern in which they are occurring do not satisfy growth management objectives of reducing rural sprawl or encouraging development in urban areas where adequate public facilities/services can be provided in an efficient manner. Without change, rural areas will continue to experience intense development pressures and a rapid decrease in rural quality of life.

(4) Why Keep Rural Areas Rural? There are many reasons for maintaining rural character in rural areas. Preservation of rural character has been a strong concern for residents of the Straits Region as evidenced by survey results. Some additional rationale is provided below:

(5) Controlling Sprawl. If sprawl is to be controlled, then urban growth should be encouraged in urban areas and should not be encouraged in rural areas. Further application of current development patterns over large rural areas will not result in retention of rural character. Fully developed areas of one acre, 2.4 acre, and even five (5) acre zoning without larger lot sizes or open space to break up the pattern would look very suburban in nature. The majority of land will be devoted to large yards and a high percentage of the area utilized merely to provide road access to each lot. This plan contains several techniques to increase the diversity of lot sizes found in rural areas which works to maintain rural character, increase affordability of rural living, and protect critical areas.

(6) What Happens to Rural Character under Conventional Development. Further application of current development patterns allowed in rural areas will not result in retention of “rural character” or a high quality of rural living. The typical one acre to five (5) acre lot in a conventional zoning district will seem “rural” only so long as it borders pasture lands or woodlots of neighboring properties. However this is “borrowed” open space, temporary in nature. When those abutting properties are also developed for home sites, the surroundings will be suburban in character and the feeling of “living in the country” will be lost. After viewing fully developed areas of one acre, 2.4 acre, and even five (5) acre zoning, Clallam County residents participating in visual preference surveys indicated that these areas did not look rural. The majority of land in these suburban density subdivisions will be devoted to large yards and a high percentage of the area utilized merely to provide road access to each lot. Crescent area residents voiced the opinion at community meetings that rural character was difficult to maintain at 2.4 acre densities under conventional development due to a large percentage of the land which must be cleared on each lot just to provide space for a home and outbuildings. While they felt that conventional 2.4 acre zoning should be retained in a few areas near the Strait of Juan de Fuca (i.e., where development had already occurred at these densities), they recommended the use of large lot-small lot development patterns in most rural areas with this density.

(7) Conserving Rural Character by Utilizing a Rural Pattern of Development. With these facts in mind, the Plan for the Eastern Straits Region calls for widespread utilization of rural character conserving development patterns when densities greater than one home per five (5) acres are allowed. The purpose of the rural low density/mixed use and the rural character conservation approach is to permit a reasonable amount of residential development while retaining the large lots, open spaces, sensitive natural areas, and rural community character that would be lost under conventional development at these same densities. Under the rural low density/mixed use and the rural character conservation approaches, densities available would usually remain the same as they were under earlier plans but residential lot sizes could be reduced to the one acre size range. By reducing the area required for the home site to that which is actually needed for residential use, the remaining acreage normally contained in individual lots would be utilized to create large lot rural vistas between residences, to reduce the perceived density of development, to provide privacy and neighborhood identity and to retain natural features, woodlots and pasture land. This large rural lot can be owned in several ways. It could be owned or sold as one large residential lot by the property owner or it could be owned and managed by a homeowners’ association. Since all the development rights will have been utilized, it will not be further subdivided but will remain in a large lot size functioning to retain the rural character for those who bought the lots from the property owner. Should the property owner decide that the rural low density/mixed use or rural character conservation approach will not work for him, he may still divide the property down to a rural lot size of five (5) acres or larger in a rural low density/mixed use area or to a ten (10) acre lot size in a rural character conservation area.

Design guidelines in a rural low density/mixed use development would ensure that most properties fronted on the large residual lot for enjoyment of rural vistas and that individual housing clusters were limited in size to avoid the appearance of an urban housing development. Housing would be encouraged to locate in or near the timbered portion of the property to reduce its visual impact on adjacent properties and the exterior roads. The rural low density/mixed use and rural character conservation approach ensures that large lot sizes vital to the retention of rural character will be retained in rural areas. It allows most rural property owners to use their current development rights. Smaller lots still under one ownership or joint ownership could be recombined to ensure that this option is available to many property owners.

The rural low density/mixed use and rural character conservation approach has many positive features. Since the amount of land utilized in residential home sites is reduced to the actual amount needed for residential use, a significant percentage of each development could remain in open space tax classification and uses. This feature limits the tax penalties incurred by the developing property owner while allowing him the possibility of producing the same income from his property if he does a well-designed development. Case studies of existing open space developments in the Port Angeles area support the claim that buyers will pay as much or more for a lot in a well-designed open space development as they will for a five (5) acre lot. This development approach would minimize public expenses involved in maintaining roads since less roads would be needed to service compact, open space developments. Woodlots and farms retained under this approach would not only provide for productive use of the land and enjoyment for the residents of the developments but could be utilized in combination to protect critical areas, connect wildlife corridors, provide space for livestock keeping, and otherwise minimize the impacts of development on the natural systems in the watershed. Problems with cluster ordinances would be avoided by providing only minor increases in density for utilizing this approach and through careful application of design guidelines to ensure the maintenance of rural character within such development areas.

(8) Flexible Zoning. A second approach will also be utilized in rural areas outside of areas designated for rural low density/mixed use and rural character conservation to allow for an increased diversity of rural lot sizes. Flexible zoning would allow the transfer of density within the ownership boundaries subject to a proposed land division, with no new lot being created less than one acre, and total number of lots determined based on the underlying zoning density. For example, a twenty (20) acre parcel is designated as rural low (one home per 4.8 acres). This allows the owner four (4) dwelling units. The owner decides to divide the property into two (2) 2.5 acre lots, one five (5) acre lot, and one ten (10) acre lot. This flexible zoning technique may achieve some affordable housing goals and preserve the rural character by having a variety of housing lot sizes scattered throughout rural areas. While this approach encourages creativity, it does not ensure that the property owner retain any larger, rural sized lots which would retain rural character. The property owner is still free to develop a grid-like pattern of development which will not retain rural character at densities greater than one home per five (5) acres. For this reason this particular technique will not be utilized in rural low density/mixed use designations where current large land ownership patterns allow for rural character to be fully retained.

(9) Controlling Sprawl by Limiting Public Services Provided in Rural Areas. Public facilities and services to be provided in rural areas must be defined. Where densities are lower than one home per five (5) acres, individual wells should be utilized but public water should not be denied if community water systems are willing to provide service. Rural densities should not require extension of sewer. While police, fire and transportation systems will be provided in rural areas, expected levels of service will be much less than that found in UGAs.

(10) Implementing the Twenty (20) Year Rural Vision. Realizing the twenty (20) year vision for the rural lands of the Straits Region will require development of rural goals, policies, and implementing actions that both encourage and ensure preservation of rural character. Below is list of issues that need to be addressed to meet the twenty (20) year vision. Goals and policies to address these issues are included for review and discussion.

Goals and policies in the land use element should promote the protection of not only the physical environment, but also protect private property rights, protect traditional uses of property and natural resources, and maintain economic opportunities through self determination. In developing the rural land use element of this Plan, the following principles were utilized.